Book Cult
by A Stripped Tigger
Summary: It's official. Leo Valdez has the worse luck than any of the other six of the Great Prophecy. Yes he even had worse luck than Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase, who fell down in Tartarus. At least they had each other. Meanwhile, Leo is finds himself in a different kind of Tartarus. In Olympus, with his family, who are more than happy to read three books all about his thoughts.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: All the words in bold and characters in this story are not mine. All rights go to Rick Riordan.**

* * *

All the shocked gods (except for Poseidon, Hestia, and Aphrodite) stared at the new Savior of Olympus.

Poseidon looked like he couldn't choose between proudly beaming and force himself to be happy with his son's decision, or deeply upset with the missed opportunity to make up for not being apart of most of Percy's life. So he settled with looking like a gaping fish.

Aphrodite was doing a happy dance in her throne. She had been crossing her slender fingers as tight as she could, hoping the Fates would not have Percy become a god. Thankfully he refused, it would have difficult for her to convince the other gods to have Annabeth also become a goddess.

_But who cares?!_ the goddess of love thought with glee, resisting the urge to throw her arms around Ares' thick neck.

_Percabeth LIVES! _

Aphrodite couldn't restrain the small giggle that escaped her lips.

Meanwhile, the quiet goddess by her ever burning hearth also tried and failed to hide a knowing smile. She had known the moment her younger brother suggested immortality, Percy Jackson would refuse. Although she had met him for only a short amount of time, she felt she knew him well enough to know he was too loyal to his friends and family to abandon them for a better life as a immortal.

_He is definitely unlike the other heroes before him._ Hestia thought, as she patiently waited for her family's response, perfectly content with once again being a wallflower.

"No?" Zeus said. "You are... turning _down_ our generous gift?"

There was a dangerous edge to his voice, like a thunderstorm about to erupt.

"I'm honored and everything," Percy said meekly. "Don't get me wrong. It's just... I've got a lot of life left to live. I'd hate to peak in my sophomore year."

Ares inwardly deflated at the loss of his future immortal punching bag.

"I do want a gift, though," Percy said. "Do you promise to grant my wish?"

Zeus thought about this.

"If this is within our power." he cautiously replied, not sure where the son of the sea god was going with this.

"It is," Percy assured. "And it's not even difficult. But I need your promise on the River of Styx."

"What?" Dionysus cried, tearing his eyes away from his wine magazine. "You don't trust us?"

"Someone once told me," Percy said, staring directly at Hades. "you should always get a solemn oath."

Hades shrugged. "Guilty."

Quickly sending Hades a particularly nasty glare (who, in response, smirked), Zeus growled.

"Very well! In the name of the Council, we swear by the River of Styx to grant your _reasonable_ request as long as it is within our power."

Zeus didn't bother telling the naive Percy Jackson that his request had to be reasonable to_ his_ standards.

The other gods, knowing there was a loophole in that promise somewhere, muttered assent. Thunder boomed, shaking the throne room. The deal was made.

"From now on, I want you to properly recognize the children of the gods," Percy said. "All the children... of _all _the gods."

Zeus' Master Bolt almost fell out of his almighty fist in shock.

"Percy," Poseidon said slowly as if his son had asked why were globes round if the earth was flat. "what exactly do you mean?"

"Kronos couldn't have risen if it hadn't been for a lot of demigods who felt abandoned by their parents, " Percy clarified.

"They felt angry, resentful, and unloved, and they had a good reason."

Zeus' royal nostrils flared. "You dare accuse-"

"No more undetermined children," Percy interrupted, aggravating the king of gods even more.

Zeus gritted his teeth, resisting the tempting urge to zap Percy Jackson back into place. Literally.

_He saved Olympus. He saved Olympus. He saved Olympus. _

"I want you to promise to claim your children- all your demigod children- by the time they turn thirteen. They won't be left out in the world on their own at the mercy of monsters. I want them claimed and brought to camp so they can be trained right, and survive."

"Now, wait just a moment," Apollo began, only to be ignored.

"And the minor gods," Percy added. "Nemesis, Hecate, Morpheus, Janus,"

Nobody noticed the sudden tension between the gods at the mention of the idiotic **Roman** god.

"Hebe- they all deserve a general amnesty and a place at Camp Half-Blood."

_Everyone, except Janus' children. _Zeus thought, mentally marking that down as a unreasonable request.

"Their children should not be ignored. Calypso and the other peaceful Titan-kind should be pardoned too."

_They are peaceful for now, but will become backstabbers later, just like the rest of their kind. __**Another**__ unreasonable request. _Zeus thought.

"And Hades-"

"Are you calling me a _minor_ _god_?" Hades bellowed. If looks could kill, the Savior of Olympus would've been on a one way trip to the Underworld in a split second.

"No, my lord." replied a surprisingly polite Percy, obviously not wanting to return back to Hades' dungeons. "But your children should not be left out. They should have a cabin at camp. Nico has proven that."

Nico slightly blushed at his words.

"No unclaimed demigods will be crammed into the Hermes cabin anymore, wondering who their parents are."

Chris Rodriguez, sitting next to his girlfriend, nodded his head slowly in agreement.

"That would be nice..." murmured a groggy Clovis, wiping the sleep out of his heavy lidded eyes. It was always difficult to find a decent place to sleep in the Hermes cabin.

"Too much pranksss..." he added, struggling not to doze off again. He nearly lost his head in the war because of that.

"They'll have their own cabins, for all gods. And no more pack of the Big Three. That didn't work anyway."

"You can say that again. " Hera huffed, glaring at Thalia.

"You've got to stop trying to get rid of powerful demigods. We're going to train them and accept them instead. All children of the gods will be welcome and treated with respect."

_Only if they are Greek. _Zeus added silently.

"That is my wish."

Zeus snorted. "Is that all?"

It was a simple task, now that he narrowed it down to reasonable standards. All he had to do was claim all his Greek children (which, considering he only had one, was already done) and allow minor Greek gods to have their own cabins for their children at Camp Half-Blood. It was so easy! Why Percy Jackson made such a huge 'I Have A Dream' speech was beyond him.

"Percy, you ask much. You presume much." Poseidon warned.

"I hold you to your oath," Percy said. "All of you."

The gods gave him steely looks.

Much to Percy's surprise, it was Athena who spoke up next.

"The boy is correct. We have been unwise to ignore our children. It proved a strategic weakness in this war and almost caused our destruction. Percy Jackson, I have had my doubts about you, but perhaps-" she glanced at Annabeth, and spoke the last words as if it hurt more than bathing in the River of Styx. "perhaps I was mistaken. I move we accept the boy's plan."

"Humph," Zeus said. " being told what to do by a mere child. But I suppose..."

"All in favor," Hermes said.

All gods raised their hands.

"Um, thanks." Percy said sheepishly.

Percy turned, only to back away in surprise at the sudden bright light in front of him.

Roaring thunder boomed overhead with enough force to shake the gargantuous room.

Everyone immediately turned to Zeus, thinking he had something to do with it, but he looked as clueless as they were.

"Draw your weapons!" Zeus ordered when the light grew brighter. "This may be another attack from the titans!"

Not needed to be told twice, it only took seconds for the once celebrating group to draw their choice of weapon.

When the light sluggishly faded, in it's wake stood a confused looking Latino elf-like boy.

"This could be a trick." Athena warned, but Hephaestus paid her no attention. Lowering his sword, the surprised god of fire muttered softly.

"Leo?"

As if hearing his name, the elf-like boy snapped out of his daze.

"Holy Hephaestus!" the boy covered in motor oil exclaimed. More out of instinct, he quickly reached in his tool belt and pulled out a tin box of breath mints.

* * *

**AN: And that is the end of chapter one. As some of you readers might have noticed, I have made some slight changes to what happened when Percy refused to be a god. I'm sorry if that annoyed anybody reading this. I just couldn't force myself to completely rewrite half of that chapter. Believe me, I tried and I quickly grew bored of the task. So, I decided, since 92% of us have likely read that part, to kind of switch it up to it more interesting **

**If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, feel free to put them in the reviews. I would deeply appreciate it. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: All the words in bold and characters in this story are not mine. All rights go to Rick Riordan.**

* * *

Despite being on a quest to save the world from the personification of itself, Leo Valdez was actually having a great day.

Leo knew it was only a matter of time before Murphy's law decided to rear its ugly head, so decided not to worry too much about the catastrophe waiting to happen and focus on his first conservation with Hazel.

Well, it definitely wasn't the first conservation they had, but it was the first one that, thankfully, lacked the usual awkwardness between them.

"There are really people who read those and like it?" Hazel asked, breaking his train of thought.

"Yeah, some of the books even became movies." Leo said, snickering at the look on Hazel's face.

"But..." Hazel paused, not knowing where to begin. "It's a horrible horror book."

"It's not a horror. " Leo corrected, not bothering to hide his smile. "It's a romance."

Now Hazel was dumbfounded. Leo let her recollect her thoughts as he continued silently stirring the ship.

"But... He's a monster."

"Uh-huh."

"A vampire..."

"Yup."

"Why doesn't he eat the girl?! Vampires drink blood!"

"He refuses to because he loves her."

Hazel threw her hands in her face, obviously regretting agreeing to let Leo update her on what's the latest of the new century.

"But... He's a monster."

"Yeah, we already went over that." Leo said with a laugh. "He also sparkles in the daytime."

Hazel looked like a lost small child in the mall.

"Wha... Tha...N-None of that makes any sense."

"Welcome to 2013." Leo said with a over exaggerated bow.

"This century is _so_ weird." Hazel concluded, grabbing a fist full of her hair.

"I agree." said a familiar voice behind them.

Hazel and Leo turned, surprised to see Nemesis sitting on the edge of the boat.

Tossing a empty fortune cookie shell overboard, the goddess of revenge read the fortune out loud.

"About time I got out of that cookie." Nemesis gritted her teeth. Tearing the tiny paper into shreds, she tossed those overboard too.

"That's not even a fortune!" Nemesis growled, grabbing another cookie from the basket.

"Nemesis? What are you doing here?" Hazel asked.

"It has nothing to do with you, Hazel Levesque." Nemesis assured. "However, you, Leo Valdez, are a different story."

Leo had a sinking feeling his perfect day was about to end.

"It's time you paid the price, Leo Valdez."

Leo kissed goodbye the closest thing to normalcy he ever had, and began deciding what color did he want his eye patch to be.

Hazel's own eyes widened at Nemesis' statement.

"Leo, you opened the fortune cookie." Hazel said, as if Leo had forgotten.

"Yeah, I did, but I thought the price was paid after Percy and Annabeth fell in Tartarus."

Nemesis stared at him as if he just coughed up a hairball.

"Why the Hades would I want that to happen?" the goddess bluntly asked.

"Although that did manage to balance the scales a little and I can't say I didn't enjoy their little encounter with the ari. In my opinion, nobody deserved it more than Nobody herself." Nemesis cackled, meanwhile Leo and Hazel exchanged confused looks.

"Anyway," Nemesis continued. "The incident that had nothing to do with the breaking of the fortune cookie."

Leo instantly felt relieved that he had nothing to do with sending Annabeth and Percy to Tartarus or, as Leo was beginning to call it, Hell's hell. However, that relief soon turned into fear of what was about to happen to him.

"_Ooookkaay_..." Leo said slowly, rocking on the back of his heels. "So, what exactly is my punishment? Am I grounded for two weeks?"

"Something like that." Nemesis cryptically said, throwing Leo off guard.

Suddenly everything around Leo and the goddess began to slow down.

The Argo || slowly came to a stop. The birds flying over them hung suspended in the air. The gentle breeze carding though Leo's hair disappeared as if it was never there.

Even Hazel seemed to be frozen, she stood her ground as she stared transfixed at nothing. Her golden eyes never blinked, even when Leo waved his hand in front of her face.

"What did you do?" Leo asked Nemesis.

The goddess didn't reply.

When Leo turned to look at the goddess of revenge, he took a step back in surprise of her sudden change in appearance.

The Aunt Rosa look alike's eyes turned pure bright white, hands down a creepier look then her sneer.

"Leo Valdez, with my help you have saved Hazel Levesque and Frank Zhang's life and now it is time you pay the price." the goddess' voice echoed in the seemly lifeless world.

The last thing Leo thought before being engulfed by the bright light was:

_At least now I won't get a chance to accidentally destroy the world._

* * *

The first thing Leo realized when the light was gone was that he wasn't dead, which showed his great day hadn't _completely_ abandoned him after all.

The second thing Leo realized was that he was surrounded by gods and demigods with dangerous weapons.

Normally Leo wouldn't be the least bit squeamish about a weapon ( heck, his younger brother made weapons as a **_hobby_**), but when they were all pointed at him, ready to slice him into Leo streamers, that's a different story all together.

"Holy Hephaestus!" Leo exclaimed, without thinking he reached into his tool belt and pulled out his trusty... box of breath mints.

_Wonderful._ Leo thought sarcastically, while Travis and Connor Stoll were desperately struggling to contain their fits of laughter. They failed when Leo, with a sheepish grin, offered the box to the king of all gods.

"Breath mint?" he asked over the twins' howls of laughter.

"WHO ARE YOU?" Zeus thundered.

"Who am I?" Leo repeated, as he looked for a exit. "Why, I am the one, the only, fantastic, wonderful, amazing, astonishing, astounding..."

Leo continued talking. He inwardly winced at amount synonyms he could think of for 'fantastic'.

_I have _**got**_ to stop hanging out with Annabeth. _Leo thought, his smile grew at the thought.

"-incredible... Well to sum things up, I'm supercalifragilisticexpiali-"

Leo stopped and gulped when a arrow whizzed by inches away from his head.

_Um...Yeah...Maybe running away right now isn't a plan worthy of Athena after all._

"Get to the point." Artemis growled, sounding a lot like her father.

"Leo Valdez," Leo introduced with a shaky smile. "humble son of Hephaestus, ma'am."

"I thought your children were the quiet ones." Hermes, leaning over to the god of blacksmith, said with a smirk.

"They are." Hephaestus grunted. "Most of them, that is."

"Why are you here?" Artemis asked with no nonsense tone of voice.

"Yeah about that... you see... I don't-"

Leo was interrupted by three books appearing by his feet.

Picking up one of the books, he gasped softly in surprise.

One the cover of the book was his beloved robotic dragon, Festus. On the dragon's back was himself (why did he look like a imp?) and Piper, who was sneaking a glance at Jason sitting behind her.

The Lost Hero, the title read. Leo instantly looked up at Percy, who was watching him with distrusting eyes.

_At least one thing's normal around here._ Leo thought dryly.

"Dear Olympians and Demigods,

So sorry to interrupt your celebration, but I think my reason is good enough to be pardoned.

With the help of a acquaintance, I have sent Leo Valdez,"

Leo awkwardly waved his hand at everyone when his name was mentioned.

"and three books from the future. I have sent them as a warning for you to prepare because the worse has yet to come.

~ Nemesis, goddess of revenge."

Leo frowned.

That did not sound like Nemesis at all.

Apparently, Athena agreed.

"Why would she, out of all the people, want to help us."

"Maybe, the future is so bad, that even Nemesis thought things would be better if we knew what happened ahead of time." Annabeth suggested.

Everyone looked expectantly at Leo.

Leo shrugged.

"Personally, I think we're doing okay. You know, for a bunch of teenagers that can't legally drive a car."

"Well, we'll just see about that." Apollo said cheerfully, taking the book from Leo's hands.

Leo awkwardly took a seat with his fellow demigods.

Once everyone was seated, Apollo began to read.

"**Jason I**

**Even before he got electrocuted, Jason was having a rotten day. **

**He woke in the backseat of a school bus, not sure where he was holding hands with a girl he didn't know.**"

"That doesn't bad at all." Travis said with a smirk. "I mean, sure not knowing where you are is bad, but holding hands with a girl makes it better."

"But only if the girl's cute." Connor added with a similar smirk.

Leo, shoving a sleeping Clovis off his shoulder, snickered.

Katie punched Connor on his arm.

"Connor! Don't be so insensitive!"

"**The girl was cute**-"

"See look? Even Jason doesn't have a problem with it." Travis said.

"**but he couldn't figure out who she was or what he was doing there. He sat up and rubbed his eyes, trying to think.**

**A few dozen of kids sprawled in the seats in front of him, listening to iPods, talking, or sleeping. They all looked around his age... fifteen? Sixteen? Okay, that was scary. He didn't even know his own age.**"

"Poor dear," Demeter said sympathetically. "How terrible."

"I know," Percy frowned. "I can't imagine what would it be like for me to lose all my memories, including..An...My age."

Leo shook his head at the irony.

"**The bus rumbled along a bumpy road. Out the windows, desert rolled by under a bright blue sky. Jason was pretty sure he didn't live in the desert. He tried to think back... the last thing he remembered...**

**The girl squeezed his hand. "Jason, you okay?"**

**She wore faded jeans, hiking boots, and a fleece snowboarding jacket. Her chocolate brown hair was cut choppy and uneven,**"

Aphrodite shook her head.

"Why on earth would she do that to her hair?"

Artemis snorted.

"Maybe because, unlike you, she doesn't care all about how she looks."

"**with thin strands braided down the sides. She wore no makeup like she was trying not to draw attention to herself, but it didn't work. She was seriously pretty. Her eyes seemed to change color like a kaleidoscope- brown, blue, and green.**"

"Aww, too cute." Aphrodite gushed. "Jason doesn't even know the girl's name and he's already head over heels in love with her."

"What are you talking about?" Artemis said, shaking her head. "All he did was describe how she looks. I mean, it's obvious he's attracted to her. But saying he loves her is extreme, especially since he doesn't even know her."

"First, I can't say I'm surprised you don't know a thing about love at first sight. Second, I'm the goddess of love. You know, that feeling you lack. So of course, I would know as a one hundred percent fact, Jason is in love with the girl."

Artemis and her hunters gritted their teeth.

Sensing the starting of a cat fight, Zeus quickly ordered Apollo to continue reading.

"**Jason let go of her hand. "Um, I don't-"**

**In the front of the bus, a teacher shouted, "All right, cupcakes, listen up!"**"

Leo jumped, startled when Grover Underwood moaned in the background.

"FOOOOOOOOOOD!"

Everyone else didn't seem too annoyed by the unconscious goat-boy, so Leo did his best to ignore him.

"**The guy was obviously a couch. His baseball cap was pulled low over his hair, so you could just see his beady eyes. He had a wispy goatee and a sour face, like he'd eaten something moldy. His buff arms and chest pushed against a bright orange polo shirt. His nylon workout pants and Nikes were spotless white. A whistle hung from his neck and a megaphone was clipped to his belt.**"

Leo smiled widely at the mention of Coach Hedge's precious megaphone.

"**He would've looked pretty scary if he hadn't been five feet zero.**"

Apollo chuckled at those words.

"**When he stood up in the aisle, one of the students called, "Stand up, Coach Hedge!"**"

Everyone laughed.

"**"I heard that!" the coach scanned the bus for the offender. Then his eyes fixed on Jason, and his scowl** **deepened.**"

"Coach Hedge knows Jason doesn't belong there." Annabeth stated, her proudly smiling mother nodded in agreement.

"**A jolt went down Jason's spine. He was sure the coach knew he didn't belong there. He was going to call Jason out, demand to know what he was doing on the bus- and Jason wouldn't have a clue what to say.**

**But Coach Hedge looked away and cleared his throat.**

**"We'll arrive in five minutes! Stay with your partner. Don't lose your worksheet. And if any of you precious little cupcakes causes any trouble on this trip, I will personally send you back to to campus the hard way."**"

"The hard way?" Chris asked with uncertainty.

"**He picked up a baseball bat and made like he was hitting a homer****.**"

"Great way to regulate the students." Dionysus muttered, not looking away from his magazine. Bored Ares nodded in agreement.

"Did he ever really use that?" Annabeth asked Leo.

Leo, looking up from his latest project, smiled.

"A couple times." he admitted, remembering when Joshua Paterson got whacked by the angry goat, for throwing away a 'perfectly good' milk carton. Coach Hedge was sent to the principal's office, but came back with a raise from the dazed Mr. Jones. The next day, the principal also made a extreme rule about recycling.

"How did he become protector?" Percy asked.

"**Jason looked at the girl next to him. "Can he talk to us that way?"**

**She shrugged. "Always does. This is the Wilderness School. 'Where kids are the animals'."**

**She said it like it was a joke they'd share before.**

**"This is some kind of mistake," Jason said. "I'm not supposed to be here."**

**The boy in front of him turned and laughed. "Yeah, right, Jason. We've all been framed! I didn't run away six times. Piper didn't steal a BMW."**"

Hermes jaw went slack.

"That's amazing!" Connor stated in awe.

"That's been my life long dream!" Travis stated.

"That's a horrible dream." Katie said, giving him a glare.

"Piper is definitely our sister." Travis added, ignoring the daughter of Demeter.

Meanwhile Aphrodite grinned when she realized Piper was her daughter.

_I have to do something about her hair._ she thought.

"**The girl blushed. "I didn't steal that car, Leo!"**"

"Poor girl, she's in denial." Connor said, shaking his head.

"Don't worry, she'll get used to her kleptomania soon enough." Hermes assured his son.

"**"Oh, I forgot, Piper. What was your story? You talked the dealer into lending it to you?" He raised his eyebrows at Jason like, _Can you believe her?_**

**Leo looked like a Latino Santa's elf,**-"

"I look like a WHAT?" Leo exclaimed, dropping his rubber band airplane on the ground.

"A elf." Connor replied in between his laughter.

"I do** not** look a elf!" Leo stated firmly, crossing his arms.

"You know, now that Jason mentioned it, I can kinda see it now." Travis teased.

"I do **_not_ **look like a elf!" Leo repeated. *

"**with curly black hair, pointy ears, a cheerful, babyish face,**"

Leo huffed, before pulling more rubber bands out of his tool belt.

"**and a mischievous smile that told you right away this guy should not be trusted around matches-**"

"Well at least he got one thing right." Leo murmured, still miffed about being called a baby faced Latino elf by his best friend.

"**or sharp objects. His long nimble fingers wouldn't stop moving-drumming on the seat, sweeping his hair behind his ears, fiddling with the buttons of his army fatigue jacket.**

**Either the kid was naturally hyper or he was hopped up on enough sugar and caffeine to give a heart attack to a water buffalo.**"

"He sounds a lot like one of your kids, Hermes." Apollo said.

Hermes nodded.

"Hard to believe he's a son of Hephaestus." Hades added.

Leo looked at the god of the dead and was beginning to see where Nico got his creepy aura from.

"**"Anyway," Leo said, "I hope you've got your worksheet, 'cause I used mine for spit wads days** **ago. **"

Thalia rolled her eyes. "Boys."

"**Why are you looking at me like that? Somebody draw on my face again?"**"

Leo bounced his newly made rubber band ball and watched it leap across the room. He moved to go retrieve it, but the look on Zeus' face told him to stay put.

With a sigh, Leo stayed seated and drummed his fingers on his leg.

"**"I don't know you," Jason said.**

**Leo gave him a crocodile grin. "Sure. I'm not your best friend. I'm his evil clone."**

**"Leo Valdez!"**

This immediately caught Leo's attention.

"**Coach Hedge yelled from the front. "Problem back there?"**

Leo snickered, knowing what was going to happen next.

"**Leo winked at Jason. "Watch this." He turned to the front . **

**"Sorry Coach! I was having trouble hearing you. Could you use your megaphone, please?"**"

Some people sent Leo a couple of questioning looks.

"**Coach Hedge grunted like he was pleased to have an excuse. He unclipped the megaphone from his belt and continued giving directions, but his voice came out like Darth Vader's. The kids cracked up.**"

So did everyone in the room.

"He's our new prank buddy." Travis whispered to his brother, who eagerly nodded in agreement. With Leo Valdez on their side, their possibilities were endless.

"**The coach tried again, but this time the megaphone blared: "The cow says moo!"**"

Hephaestus beamed proudly as the laughter grew louder.

"**The kids howled, and the coach slammed down the megaphone. "Valdez!"**

**Piper stifled a laugh. "My god,**"

"Gods." Apollo corrected.

"**Leo. How did you do that?"**

**Leo slipped a tiny Phillips head screwdriver from his sleeve. "I'm a special boy."**"

Smiling Nico shook his head. "Only a child of Hephaestus would be carrying around a screwdriver."

"**"Guys seriously," Jason pleaded. "What am I doing here? Where are we going?"**

**Piper knit her eyebrows. "Jason, are you joking?"**

**"No! I have no idea-"**

**"Aw, yeah, he's joking," Leo said. "He's trying to get me back for that shaving cream on the Jell-O thing aren't you?"**

"We are trying on Katie." Grinning Travis whispered to Connor. He couldn't wait to see the look on her face.

Rolling his eyes, Connor snorted. "Of course."

"**Jason stared at him blankly.**

**"No, I think he's serious." Piper tried to take his hand again but he pulled it away.**"

Aphrodite frowned in disappointment at this.

"**"I'm sorry," he said. "I don't-I can't-"**

**"That's it!" Coach Hedge yelled from the front. "The back row has just volunteered to clean up after lunch!"**

**The rest of the kids cheered. **

**"There's a shocker," Leo muttered.**

**But Piper kept her eyes on Jason, like she couldn't decide whether to be hurt or worried, "Did you hit your head or something? You really don't know who we are?**

**Jason shrugged helplessly. "It's worse than that. I don't know who _I_ am."**

**The bus dropped them in front of a big red stucco complex like a museum, just sitting in the middle of nowhere. Maybe that's what it was: The National Museum of Nowhere, Jason thought. A cold wind blew across the desert. Jason hadn't paid much attention to what he was wearing, but it wasn't nearly warm enough: jeans and sneakers, a purple T-shirt,**"

The gods immediately stiffened at that.

Athena let out a low hiss.

_It's just a coincidence. _Zeus thought nervously gesturing Apollo to continue reading, wanting to avoid any suspicion fro the demigods.

"**and a thin black windbreaker.**

**"So, a crash course for the amnesiac," Leo said, in a helpful tone that made Jason think this was not going to be helpful.**"

"Did it ever occur to you that he could have been serious?" Thalia asked Leo, who popped a breath mint in his mouth.

Leo rolled his eyes. Of course the first time his old crush, Thalia, ever talks to him only happens when it's about her brother and when he's already taken.

"Not _rrreeee-aaaalllly_." Leo said, fiddling with the buttons on his jacket. "I mean, I believe him later, but we always played jokes on each other before, so I didn't take him too seriously.

"**We go to the 'Wilderness School'"-Leo made air quotes with his fingers. "Which means we're 'bad kids'. Your family, or the court or whoever, decided you were too much trouble, so they shipped you off to this lovely prison-sorry, 'boarding school'-in Armpit, Nevada, where you learn valuable nature skills like running ten miles a day through the cacti and weaving daisies into hats! And for a special treat we go on 'educational' field trips with Coach Hedge, who keeps order with a baseball bat. Is it all coming back to you now?"  
**

**"No." Jason glanced apprehensively at the other kids: maybe twenty guys and half that many girls. None of them looked like hardened criminals, but he wondered what they'd all done to get sentenced to a school for delinquents, and he wondered why he belonged with them.**

**Leo rolled his eyes. "You're really gonna play this out, huh? Okay, so the three of us started here together this semester. We're totally tight. You do everything I say and give me your dessert and do my chores-"**

"Seriously Leo?" Thalia growled. Smiling Leo shrugged.

"I didn't think he was serious." Leo explained, pulling out paper clips from his tool belt.

Percy shook his head. "Not cool."

Apparently the Stolls thought it was because they were cracking up.

"It was just a joke." Travis defended.

"Yeah," Connor added. "If Leo had known Jason was serious, I'm positive Leo wouldn't have said that. Right Leo?"

"Right." Leo replied, making a paper clip chain.

"**"Leo!" Piper snapped.**"

"At least there's _someone _there who is smart enough to realize he wasn't joking." Thalia muttered.

Artemis nodded. "Figures, it'd be a girl."

"**"Fine. Ignore that last part. But we _are_ friends.**

"With friends like _that_ who needs enemies?" Thalia muttered.

Leo looked up from his chain, feeling hurt. But he forced himself to smile.

"True." he agreed with a hollow chuckle.

Connor, who knew his new friend had his feelings hurt, immediately came to his defense.

"Hey, what's your problem? Leo said he didn't know! Why are you so defensive of a guy you haven't met."

Thalia faltered, unsure why herself.

"**Well, Piper's a little more than your friend, the last few weeks-"**

Aphrodite squealed.

_Jiper is alive! It's not as cute as Percabeth. But still cute all the same._

"**"Leo, stop it!" Piper's face turned red.**"

"Aaaaw." the goddess of love cooed.

"**Jason could feel his face burning too.**"

"Aaaawww." Aphrodite giggled. Artemis banged her head against the back of her throne.

"**He thought he'd remember if he'd been going out with a girl like Piper.**"

"That is so adorable!" Aphrodite sighed. Turning to the hunters, Aphrodite said.

"You see what you are missing out on girls?"

Some of the hunters rolled their eyes, others gagged in disgust.

"**"He's got amnesia or something," Piper said. "We've got to tell somebody."**

**Leo scoffed "Who, Coach Hedge? He'd try to fix Jason by whacking him upside the head."**"

Ares, picking his teeth with a dagger, shrugged. "It might work."

Athena snorted. "If he was a cartoon character, maybe."

"**The coach was at the front of the group, barking orders and blowing his whistle to keep the kids in line; but every so often he'd glance back at Jason and scowl.**

**"Leo, Jason needs help," Piper insisted. "He's got a concussion or-"**

**"Yo, Piper." One of the other guys dropped back to join them as the group was heading into the museum. The new guy wedged himself between Jason and Piper and knocked Leo down. "Don't talk to these bottom-feeders. You're my partner, remember?"**

Hestia raised a eyebrow.

"Bottom-feeders?" she repeated. She may not know what's 'groovy' now a days, but she was definite 'bottom-feeders' was not what the cool cats say anymore.

"**The new guy had dark hair cut Superman style, a deep tan, and teeth so white they should've come with a warning label: DO NOT STARE DIRECTLY AT TEETH. PERMANENT BLINDNESS MAY OCCUR. He wore a Dallas Cowboys jersey, Western jeans and boots, and he smiled like he was God's gift to juvenile delinquent girls everywhere. Jason hated him instantly.**

"Yeah," Leo agreed as he continued adding more paper clips to his chain. "Dylan was a creep."

**"Go away, Dylan," Piper grumbled. "I didn't ask to work with you."**

**"Ah, that's no way to be. This is your lucky day!" Dylan hooked his arm through hers and dragged her the museum entrance. Piper shot one look over her shoulder like, _911._**

Artemis looked sympathetically at the book.**  
**

**Leo got up and brushed himself off. "I hate that guy." He offered Jason his arm, like they should go skipping inside together. "I'm Dylan. I'm so cool, I want to date myself, but I can't figure out how! You want to date me instead? You're so lucky!"**

Everyone laughed.

**"Leo," Jason said. "You're weird."**

"In a awesome way!" Travis added.

Leo smirked, tossing his paper clip chain over Clovis' shoulder as he continued to make it longer.

"**"Yeah, you tell me that a lot." Leo grinned. "But if you don't remember me, that means I can reuse all my jokes. Come on!"**

**Jason figured that if this was his best friend, his life must be pretty messed up;**

Leo frowned.

_Can't argue there._

**but he followed Leo into the museum.**

**They walked through the building, stopping here and there for Coach Hedge to lecture to them with his megaphone, which alternately made him sound like Sith Lord or blared out random comments like "The pig says oink."**

Athena rolled her eyes.

"Honestly, why would he continue using his megaphone?"

**Leo kept pulling out nuts, bolts, and pipe cleaners from the pockets of his army jacket and putting them together, like he had to keep his hands busy at all times.**

Percy looked over to see Leo continue adding paper clips to his ever growing paper clip chain.

"**Jason was too distracted to pay much attention to the exhibits, but they were about the Grand Canyon and the Hualapai tribe, which owned the museum.**

**Some girls kept looking over at Piper and Dylan and snickering. Jason figured these girls were the popular clique. They wore matching jeans and pink tops and enough makeup for a Halloween.**

"They need help." Aphrodite stated. "Quick. No guy would even look at them except for laughs if they continue looking like that."

**One of them said, "Hey, Piper, does your tribe run this place? Do you get in free if you do a rain dance?**

Aphrodite's eye twitched

_Excuse __me?_

**The other girls laughed. Even Piper's so-called partner Dylan suppressed a smile. Piper's snowboarding jacket sleeves hid her hands, but Jason got the feeling she was clenching her fists.**

Like her mother was doing.

**"My dad's Cherokee," she said. "Not Hualapai. 'Course you'd need a few brain cells to know the difference, Isabel."**

**Isabel widened her eyes in mock surprise, so that she looked an owl with a makeup addiction.**

Athena gnashed her teeth.

_Of course a **Roman** would dare insult a owl by comparing it to that...that... _**_girl_**_._

**"Oh, sorry! Was your _mom _in this tribe? Oh, that's right. You never knew your mom."**

_On second thought, I'm starting to think **bears** are more of their type. _Aphrodite made a sinister smile.

"Mom?" Travis said. "If she never knew her mom, that means her mom's a goddess. Which means, we can date her. Cool!"

"You mean **I **can date her." Connor corrected. "It's best if you not flirt with her, bro. The last thing we want is for Katie to get jealous."

Katie blushed.

"Don't even bother, Connor. Piper likes Jason." Percy said, chuckling when Connor visibly deflated at that.

**Piper charged her,**

_Punch her in the face, Sweetie! But don't kill her, I still need to pair her up. _Aphrodite thought with a small giggle.

**but before a fight could start, Coach Hedge barked, "Enough back there! Set a good example or I'll break out my baseball bat!"**

Ares frowned.

"Aw! I was hoping for some action!"

Aphrodite consolingly patted his bicep.

"Me too, hon." she said sadly. "Me too."

**The group shuffled on to the next exhibit, but the girls kept calling out comments to Piper.**

**"Good to be back on the rez?" one asked in a sweet voice.**

**"Dad's probably too drunk to work," another said with fake sympathy. "That's why she turned klepto."**

**Piper ignored them, but Jason was ready to punch them himself.**

"Do it!" Ares yelled at the same time Aphrodite exclaimed.

"Punch them where it hurts, Jason! **Where it hurts!**"

Everyone, including her boyfriend (who fell in love with her all over again), stared at her.

"What?" she huffed. "I don't like bullies, okay?"

**He might not remember Piper, or even who he was, but he knew he hated mean kids.**

**Leo caught his arm. "Be cool. Piper doesn't like us fighting her battles. Besides, if those girls found out the truth about her dad, they'd be all bowing down to her and screaming 'We're not worthy!'"**

Aphrodite smiled. Leo was definitely right about that.

"Who's her dad?" Percy asked.

"You'll find out later, I'm sure." Leo said.

**"Why? What about her dad?"**

**Leo laughed in disbelief. "You're not kidding? You really don't remember that your girlfriend's dad-"**

**"Look, I wish I did, but I don't even remember _her _much less her dad."**

**Leo whistled. "Whatever. We _have _to talk when we get back to the dorm."**

"That's when I realized he wasn't kidding." Leo reported.

**They reached the far end of the exhibit hall, where some big glass doors led out to a terrace.**

**"All right, cupcakes," Coach Hedge announced. "You are about to see the Grand Canyon. Try not to break it."**

Leo grimaced at the mention of the Grand Canyon.

"They wouldn't break anything." Annabeth said. "But if Percy was with them, there probably wouldn't even be a Grand Crayon after he visited."

The demigods, except a confused Leo, laughed.

"**"The skywalk can hold the weight of seventy jumbo jets, so you featherweights should be out there. If possible, try to avoid pushing each other over the edge, as that would cause me extra paperwork."**

"Geez, this guy reminds me of Mr. D." Percy whispered to Annabeth.

**The coach opened the doors, and they all stepped outside. The Grand Canyon spread before them, live and in person. Extending over the edge was a horseshoe-shaped walkway made of glass, so you could see right through it.**

**"Man," Leo said. "That's pretty wicked."**

It's amazing how quickly opinions can change after simply getting tossed over a cliff.

**Jason had to agree. Despite his amnesia and his feeling that he didn't belong there, he couldn't help being impressed. **

**The canyon was bigger and wider than you could appreciate from a picture. They were up so high that birds circled below their feet. Five hundred feet down, a river snaked along the canyon floor.**

Thalia shuddered at the description.

**Banks of the storm clouds had moved overheard while they'd been inside, casting shadows like angry faces across the cliffs. As far as Jason could see in any direction, red and gray ravines cut through the desert like some crazy god had taken a knife to it.**

"At least he knows he's a demigod." Annabeth said.

**Jason got a piercing pain behind his eyes. _Crazy gods_- Where had he come up with that idea? He felt like he'd gotten close to something important-something he should know about. He also got the unmistakable feeling he was in danger.**

**"You all right?" Leo asked. "You're not going to throw up over the side, are you?**

Thalia nodded with approval to Leo. Finally Leo was showing some concern for her bro-

_No._ she thought, shaking her head. _That's not the Jason _**_I _**_know. That's another Jason._

**'Cause I should've brought my camera."**

"Leo!" Thalia exclaimed in frustration.

"Sorry!"

**Jason grabbed the railing. He was shivering and sweaty, but it had nothing to do with heights. He blinked, and the pain behind his eyes subsided.**

**"I'm fine," he managed "Just a headache."**

"It sounds more than just a headache to me." Apollo said with a frown.

"Maybe it has something to do with trying to regain his memories." suggested Athena.

Apollo shrugged, turning to Leo for confirmation.

"Hey, I don't know." Leo said, adding another paper clip to his chain. By now, Clovis was beginning to look like a paper clip attired mummy. "I just took his word for it. But it could have to do with his memories."

"**Thunder rumbled overhead. A cold wind almost knocked him sideways.**

**"This can't be safe." Leo squinted at the clouds. "Storm's right over us, but it's clear all the way around. Weird, huh?"**

**Jason looked up and saw Leo was right. A dark circle of clouds had parked itself over the skywalk, but the rest of the sky in every direction was perfectly clear. Jason had a bad feeling about that.**

**"All right, cupcakes!" Coach Hedge yelled. He frowned at the storm like it bothered him too. "We may have to cut this short, so get to work! Remember, complete sentences!"**

**The storm rumbled, and Jason's head began to hurt again. Not knowing why he did it, he reached into his jeans pocket and brought out a coin-a circle of gold the size of a half-dollar, but thicker and more uneven. Stamped on one side was a picture of a battle-ax. On the other side was some guy's face wreathed in laurels. The inscription said something like IVLIVS.**

The tension between the gods was back.

The demigods, except Leo (who frowned, when he realized he was running out of space on Clovis for the rest of his chain), exchanged confused looks.

"I never heard of a coin like that before." Katie said.

"Maybe he got a souvenir or something at a store." Connor said.

"I think there something more to it about that coin." Annabeth stated.

Apollo began to read, before the demigods could discuss further about the coin.

"**"Dang, is that gold?" Leo asked. "You been holding out on me!"**

**Jason put the coin away, wondering how he'd come to have it, and why he had the feeling he was going to need it soon.**

"Maybe he wants to buy a soda with it later." Travis said in mock seriousness.

**"It's nothing," he said. "Just a coin."**

**Leo shrugged. Maybe his mind had to keep moving as much as his hands.**

"Hey!" Leo said. "I had _way _more things to think about then a shinny gold coin!"

**"Come on," he said. "Dare you to spit over the edge."**

"See?" Leo said with a triumphant smile.

"Boys." Phoebe sniffed, glaring at the Stolls, who laughed. "They are all the same in my eye."

"That's because they are, Phoebe." Artemis said.

**They didn't try very hard on the worksheet. For one thing, Jason was too distracted by the storm and his own mixed-up feelings. For another thing, he didn't have any idea how to "name three sedimentary strata you observe" or "describe two examples of erosion."**

"But that's easy!" Annabeth said with exasperation.

"Annabeth," Percy began slowly. "What may be easy for you, may be difficult for others."

**Leo was no help.**

"Of course." Thalia muttered under her breath.

**He was too busy building a helicopter out of pipe cleaners.**

**"Check it out." He launched the copter. Jason figured it would plummet, but the pipe-cleaner blades actually spun. The little copter made it halfway across the canyon before it lost momentum and spiraled into the void.**

"Dude, that was so cool!" Connor exclaimed.

Leo shrugged. He could've done better.

**"How'd you do that?" Jason asked.**

**Leo shrugged. "Would've been cooler if I had some rubber bands."**

**"Seriously," Jason said, "are we friends?"**

**"Last I checked."**

**"You sure? What was the first day we met? What did we talk about?"**

**"It was..." Leo frowned. "I don't recall exactly. I'm ADHD, man. You can't expect me to remember details."**

"Actually, he should expect you to remember those things, or the conservation at least." Annabeth corrected Leo, who was too fascinated with a fly crawling up a wall to notice she was speaking to him. "You see, demigods' ADHD has a demigod noticing too much, not too little."

"Oh." he simply replied.

**"But I don't remember you at all. I don't remember anyone here. What if-"**

**"You're right and everyone else is wrong?" Leo asked.  
"You think you just appeared here this morning, and we've got fake memories of you?"**

Everyone stared at Leo, who was currently remaking his helicopter, only this time adding rubber bands.

Leo looked up when he felt eyes staring at him.

"What?"

"Leo..." Astonished Athena said. "How you did guess that?"

"Guess what?"

Apollo reread the paragraph to him.

"Oh, that? Well, I was kinda joking around with him."

Joking or not," Annabeth said. "That actually explains why Jason has no clue who Leo and Piper are and they seem to know him."

"But," Nico added. "That doesn't explain why he doesn't remember the rest of his memories, including his age."

"And how he got there." Chris chipped in.

**A little voice in Jason's head said, _That's exactly what I think_.**

"Apparently the voice in Jason's head agrees with our Scooby Doo Detective Agency." Travis said, nodding his head.

**But it sounded crazy. Everybody here took him for granted. Everybody acted like he was a normal part of the class-except for Coach Hedge.**

**"Take the worksheet." Jason handed Leo the paper. "I'll be right back."**

**Before Leo could protest, Jason headed across the skywalk.**

**Their school group had the place to themselves. Maybe it was too early in the day for tourists, or maybe the weird weather scared them off. The Wilderness School kids had spread out in pairs across the skywalk. Most were joking around or talking. Some of the guys were dropping pennies over the side. About fifty feet away, Piper was trying to fill out her worksheet, but her stupid partner Dylan was hitting on her, putting his hand on her shoulder and giving her that blinding white smile. She kept pushing him away, and when she saw Jason she gave him a look like, _Throttle this guy for me._**

_Please do Jason. Please do._ Aphrodite silently pleaded.

**Jason motioned for her to hang on. He walked up to Coach Hedge, who was leaning on his baseball bat, studying the storm clouds.**

**"Did you do this?" the coach asked him.**

**Jason took a step back. "Do what?" It sounded like the coach had just asked if he'd made the thunderstorm.**

_Which he didn't. _Thalia thought quickly, before she could get her hopes up.

**Coach Hedge glared at him, his beady little eyes glinting under the brim of his cap. "Don't play games with me, kid. What are you doing here, and why are you messing up my job?"**

**"You mean... you _don't_ know me?" Jason said. "I'm not one of your students?"**

**Hedge snorted. "Never seen you before today."**

**Jason was so relieved he almost wanted to cry. At least he wasn't going insane. He _was_ in the wrong place.**

**"Look sir, I don't know how I got here. I just woke up on the school bus. All I know is I'm not supposed to be here."**

Leo tossed his new and improved helicopter and watched it fly across the room. Ares, in the mood for destroying something, grabbed it and crushed it into a lump of junk.

Leo, muttering unflattering words about the god of war, drummed his fingers on his knee as he thought what to build next.

**"Got that right." Hedge's gruff voice dropped to a murmur, like he was sharing a secret. "You got a powerful way with the Mist, kid, if you can make all these people think they know you; **

"He had obviously used the mist before." Athena said.

**but you can't fool me. I've been smelling a monster for days now. I knew we had an infiltrator, but you don't smell like a monster. You smell like a half-blood. So-who are you, and where'd you come from?"**

**Most of what the coach said didn't make sense, but he decided to answer honestly. "I don't know who I am. I don't have any memories, You've got to help me."**

**Coach Hedge studied his face like he was trying to read Jason's thoughts.**

"Except he isn't, right?" Leo asked nervously. "'Cause Satyrs can't read minds, right?"

"No, Lionel. They can only read someone's feelings" Dionysus replied.

_Good. _Leo sighed with relief. He didn't know what he would do if people were reading his thoughts.

**"Great," Hedge muttered. "You're being truthful."**

**"Of course I am! And what was all that about monsters and half-bloods? Are those code words or something?"**

**Hedge narrowed his eyes. Part of Jason wondered if the guy was just nuts. But the other part knew better.**

**"Look, kid," Hedge said, "I don't know who you are. I just know _what _you are, and it means trouble. Now I got protect three of you rather than two. Are you the special package? Is that it?"**

**"What are you talking about?" **

**Hedge looked at the storm. The clouds were getting thicker and darker, hovering right over the skywalk. **

**"This morning," Hedge said. "I got a message from camp. They said an extraction team is on the way. They're coming to pick up a special package, but they wouldn't give me details. I thought to myself, Fine. The two I'm watching are pretty powerful, older than most. I know they're being stalked. I can smell a monster in the group. I figure that's why the camp is suddenly frantic to pick them up. But then _you _pop up of nowhere. So, are you the special package?"**

**The pain behind Jason's eyes got worse than ever. _Half-bloods_. _Camp_. _Monsters_. He still didn't know what Hedge was talking about, but the words gave him a massive brain freeze-like his mind was trying to access information that should've been there but wasn't.**

**He stumbled and Coach Hedge caught him. For a short guy, the coach had hands like steel. "Whoa, there, cupcake. You say you got no memories, huh? Fine. I'll just have to watch you, too, until the team gets here. We'll let the director figure things out."**

**"What director?" Jason said. "What camp?"**

**"Just sit tight. Reinforcements should be here soon. Hopefully nothing happens before-"**

"He just _had _to say something." Leo grumbled. Stupid Murphy's Law.

**Lightning cracked overhead. The wind picked up with a vengeance. Worksheets flew into the Grand Canyon, and the entire bridge shuddered. Kids screamed, stumbling and grabbing the rails.**

**"I had to say something," Hedge grumbled. He bellowed into his megaphone: "Everyone inside! The cow says moo! Off the skywalk!"**

**"I thought you said this thing was stable!" Jason shouted over the wind.**

"Apparently not stable enough." Leo said under his breath.

**"Under normal circumstances," Hedge agreed, "which these aren't. Come on!"**

"That's the end of the chapter." Apollo reported. "Anybody want to read next?"

"I will." Athena said, taking the book.

Leo inwardly groaned as he fidgeted in his seat.

_Great! Now we get to read how much of a wimp I am!_

* * *

***~ I always thought Leo would deny ever looking like a elf. Don't ask me why, but just seemed like something Leo would do.**

**AN: Sorry this took longer than most people would have liked. I wanted this chapter to be perfect, especially for my first reviewers, Guest, Lola, Cherriomax, Rawr, SmartBlondie, and (last but not least) Person.**

**Thank you so much for your encouraging reviews, you have no idea how happy they made me!**

**If anybody has any questions, comments, or suggestions, feel free to put them in the reviews. Thank you for reading my story and I hope you have a Happy New Year.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: All the words in bold and characters in this story are not mine. All rights go to Rick Riordan.**

* * *

"**Jason II**." Athena began.

"Do all the chapters have the same titles?" Percy asked.

Athena flipped through the pages of the book.

"No," the goddess of wisdom said, "after this Jason chapter, the title will change to Piper. Then after two Piper chapters it will change to Leo chapters."

Leo, doodling with a black sharpie on Clovis' face, looked up at the sound of his name.

"The pattern repeats itself after the Leo chapters are finished."

"Maybe they are a change of point of view. First Jason, second Piper, then Leo." Annabeth said.

"Awesome!" Travis said, his voice full of excitement. "Now we get to read Leo's thoughts!"

"Perfect blackmail, here we come!" Connor added.

The fake smile on Leo's face twitched. His eyes were as wide as a deer's when it's caught in headlights. His teeth clamped down on the inside of his cheek to prevent him from screaming.

_Nononononononononnononono!_ Leo chanted in his mind. _They're already going to read how much of a crappy fighter I am. There is no way in **Tartarus, **am I letting these guys read my thoughts. I don't care if I have to **burn **the stupid thing! They are not reading my thoughts! Not now, not ever!__  
_

Leo paused, inhaling sharply.

_Wait a minute!_

Leo almost clapped his hands in excitement, but restrained himself. In order to express his happiness, he drew a huge smiley face along with the words 'WASSUP?' on Clovis' cheek.

_That's it! That's it! All I have to do is burn the stupid book! I'm saved! _

Leo bit the inside of his cheek once again, this time to keep from laughing from relief.

_Now all I have to do is wait. Hopefully they'll take a break after a few chapters, then I'll make my move._

Leo couldn't hold back the mischievous smile that made it's way on his face. *

"**The Storm Churned Into a miniature Hurricane. Funnel clouds snaked towards the skywalk like the tendrils of a monster jellyfish. Kids screamed and ran for the building. The wind snatched away their notebooks, jackets, hats, and backpacks. Jason skidded across the slick floor.**

**Leo lost balance and almost toppled over the railing, but Jason grabbed his jacket and pulled him back.**

The demigods and Hephaestus let out a breath they didn't realize they were holding.

Leo raised a eyebrow at their actions.

_Oooookaaay... Did they forget I was still sitting here alive or... What?_

**"Thanks, man!" Leo yelled.**

**"Go, go, go!" said Coach Hedge. **

**Piper and Dylan were holding the doors open, herding the other kids inside. Piper's snowboarding jacket was flapping wildly, her dark hair all in her face. Jason thought she must've been freezing, but she looked calm and confident-telling the others it would be okay, encouraging them to keep moving.**

Aphrodite smiled proudly at this.

_She would make a great hunter. _Artemis thought.

**Jason, Leo, and Coach Hedge ran toward them, but it was like running through quicksand. The wind seemed to fight them, pushing them back.**

**Dylan and Piper pushed one more kid inside, then lost their grip on the doors. They slammed shut, closing off the skywalk.**

**Piper tugged at the handles. Inside, the kids pounded on the glass, but the doors seemed to be stuck.**

**"Dylan, help!" Piper shouted. **

"He's not going to do anything, is he?" Percy asked with a grimace.

"No, he won't." Frowning Annabeth said.

**Dylan just stood there with an idiotic grin, his Cowboys jersey rippling in the wind, like he was suddenly enjoying the storm. **

**"Sorry, Piper," he said. "I'm done helping."**

**He flicked his wrist, and Piper flew backward, slamming into the doors and sliding to the skywalk deck.**

_My poor Piper. _Aphrodite thought sadly.

Everyone else winced in sympathy.

**"Piper!" Jason tried to charge forward,**

"Get him! Beat his ass!" Ares cheered.

**but the wind was against him, and Coach Hedge pushed him back.**

"Why did he stop him?" Chris asked.

"Probably because Coach Hedge thought he wasn't experienced enough to fight the monster." Katie suggested with a shrug.

**"Coach," Jason said, "let me go!"**

**"Jason, Leo, stay behind me," the coach ordered. "This is my fight. I should've known that was our monster."**

"At least he's owning up to his mistake." Percy said.

Leo hummed softly to himself as he continued drawing on Clovis' face.

**"What?" Leo demanded. A rogue worksheet slapped him in the face,**

Travis snickered at the mental image.

**but he swatted it away. "What monster?" **

**The coach's cap blew off, and sticking up above his curly hair were two bumps-like the knots cartoon characters get when they're bonked on the head. **

Everyone laughed at the ridiculous description.

**Coach Hedge lifted his baseball bat-but it wasn't a regular bat anymore. Somehow it had changed into a crudely shaped tree-branch club, with twigs and leaves still attached.**

"And you said he hit _students _with that thing?" Chris said to Leo in shock.

"Oh, I'm sure they were fine afterwards, Cody." Dionysus said dismissively. "They more than likely received nothing more than a concussion."

**Dylan gave him that psycho happy smile. "Oh, come on, _Coach_. Let the boy attack me! After all, you're getting too old for this. Isn't that why they _retired_ you to this stupid school? I've been on your team the entire season, and you didn't even know. You're losing your nose, grandpa!"**

**The coach made an angry sound like an animal bleating. "That's it, cupcake. You're down."**

**"You think you can protect three half-bloods at once, old man?" Dylan laughed. "Good luck."**

Nobody liked the sound of that. Leo squeezed his eyes shut in anticipation for the ridicule about to come.

**Dylan pointed at Leo, and a funnel cloud materialized around. Leo flew off the skywalk like he'd been tossed. Somehow he managed to twist in midair, and slammed sideways into the canyon wall. He skidded, clawing furiously for any handhold.**

Hephaestus' breath hitched. He took slow deep breaths to prevent hyperventilation.

_Leo's fine. _he thought, looking at his son, who was now drawing on Clovis' arm. _See? He's right there, tormenting the narcoleptic boy._

"Ouch!" Travis said sympathetically.

Leo forced a laugh.

"Yeah, that pretty much describes it."

**Finally he grabbed a thin ledge about fifty feet below the skywalk and hung there by his fingertips.**

**"Help!" he yelled up at them. "Rope, please? Bungee cord? Something?"**

"Even when you're in serious danger, you still make a big joke out of it." Thalia shook her head.

Leo smiled and shrugged.

**Coach Hedge cursed and tossed Jason his club. "I don't know who you are, kid, but I hope you're good. Keep that thing busy- he stabbed a thumb at Dylan- "while I get Leo."**

**"Get him how?" Jason demanded. "You going to fly?"**

Leo snorted at that.

"He's a satyr, Jason, not a gargoyle." he muttered, drawing a poorly done cat.

**"Not fly. Climb." Hedge kicked off his shoes, and Jason almost had a coronary. The coach didn't have any feet. He had hooves-goat hooves.**

**Which meant those things on his head, Jason realized, weren't bumps. They were horns.**

**"You're a faun," Jason said.**

"Faun?" Percy asked.

"That's the Roman name for satyrs." Annabeth said.

**"Satyr!" Hedge snapped. "Fauns are Roman. But we'll talk about that later."**

**Hedge leaped over the railing. He sailed toward the canyon wall and hit hooves first. He bounded down the canyon wall and hit hooves first. He bounded down the cliff with impossible agility, finding footholds no bigger than postage stamps, dodging whirlwinds that tried to attack him as he picked his way toward Leo.**

**"Isn't that cute!" Dylan turned toward Jason. "Now it's your turn, boy."**

"Finally, some action." Ares said.

**Jason threw the club. It seemed useless with the winds so strong, but the club flew right at Dylan, even curving when he tried to dodge, and smacked him on the head so hard he fell to his knees. **

"Yeah! Bull's eye!" Ares cheered.

**Piper wasn't as dazed as she appeared. Her fingers closed around the club when it rolled next to her, but before she could use it, Dylan rose. Blood-golden blood-trickled from his forehead.**

**"Nice try, boy." He glared at Jason. "But you'll have do better."**

**The skywalk shuddered. Hairline fractures appeared in the glass.**

**Inside the museum, kids stopped banging on the doors. They backed away, watching in terror.**

"I wonder what they saw." Apollo mused.

"Your guess is as good as mine." Hermes replied.

**Dylan's body dissolved into smoke, as if his molecules were coming unglued. He had the same face,**

"Unfortunately." Leo muttered, deciding to do something else other than draw on Clovis (he was running out of space on his arm anyway).

Leo took out some wrenches from his tool belt, and began to stack one on top of another.

**the same brilliant white smile, but his whole form was suddenly composed of swirling black vapor, his eyes like electrical sparks in a living storm cloud. He sprouted black smoky wings and rose above the skywalk. If angels could be evil, Jason decided, they would look exactly like this.**

**"You're a ventus," Jason said, through he had no idea how he knew that word. "A storm spirit."**

"I never heard of those before." Katie said.

"That's because he said the Roman name for Anemoi thuella." Annabeth translated with a frown.

"Are they hard to beat?" Travis asked.

Annabeth, clutching her necklace, bit her lip and nodded.

**Dylan's laugh sounded like a tornado tearing off a roof. "I'm glad I waited, demigod, Leo and Piper I've known about for weeks. Could've killed them at any time. But my mistress said a third was coming-someone special. She'll reward me greatly for your death."**

**Two more funnel clouds touched down on either side of Dylan and turned into venti-ghostly young men with smoky wings and eyes that flickered with lightning.**

**Piper stayed down, pretending to be dazed, her hand still gripping the club. Her face was pale, but she gave Jason a determined look, and he understood the message.**

**_Keep their attention. I'll brain them from behind._  
**

Annabeth nodded her head in approval.

"That actually could work." she said.

Ares smirked, also liking the violent idea.

Aphrodite beamed proudly.

**Cute, smart, and violent. Jason wished he remembered having her as a girlfriend.**

"That is so sweet." Aphrodite giggled.

**He clenched his fists and got ready to charge, but he never got a chance.**

Everyone, except Leo (who was halfway done with his fort made entirely wrenches), stiffened.

Thalia gripped tightly on her bow. Not liking the way that sounded.

**Dylan raised his hand, arcs of electricity running between his fingers, and blasted Jason in chest.**

"No!" Everybody, except Athena, exclaimed. Leo, adding the final wall to his fort, yelped in surprise at the sudden loud noise.

"You!" Thalia said with a Zeus-like growl. Grabbing Leo by the collar of his collar and dragged him to her, effectively knocking down his fort.

"Hey!" Leo exclaimed as his fort collapsed.

"He's lives right?" Thalia said, pulling him close until their noses were touching.

Normally, Leo would've been ecstatic to have a girl, especially Calypso, so close to him. But with the threatening look on the girl's face reminded him a awful lot like Dionysus' fan girls, the Maenads. One wrong move and he was dead. Whether that was literal or not, was still Leo's guess.

Leo looked around the room, having no idea who the distraught daughter of Zeus was talking about.

"Well, does he live?" Thalia said, indicating his time for thinking was over.

"Yes." Leo said quickly, knowing that 'yes' was the right answer to everything.

Thalia sighed in relief, releasing Leo's collar. Leo immediately scrambled over to the glaring Stoll brothers, the only people (besides his dad) who seemed to like him.

Meanwhile Annabeth narrowed her eyes.

_For someone she doesn't know, Thalia shows a lot of concern for Jason._

Athena bit back a huge smile. Although she knew the Roman (sadly) wouldn't die, it gave her satisfaction knowing he got hurt.

_**Bang! **_**Jason found himself flat on his back. His mouth tasted like burning aluminum foil.**

**He lifted his head and saw that his clothes were smoking.**

**The lightning bolt had gone straight though his body and blasted off his left shoe. His toes were black with soot.**

**The storm spirits were laughing. The winds raged. Piper was screaming defiantly, but it all sounded tiny and far away. **

**Out of the corner of his eye, Jason saw Coach Hedge climbing up the cliff with Leo on his back.**

Leo shook his head in self-disgust.

**Piper was on her feet, desperately swinging the club to fend off the two extra storm spirits,**

_Being ten times more helpful then their sidekick Flaming Valdez. _Leo added.

**but they were just toying with her. The club went right through their bodies like they weren't there.**

**And Dylan, a dark and winged tornado with eyes, loomed over Jason.**

**"Stop," Jason croaked. He rose unsteadily to his feet, and he wasn't sure who was more surprised him, or the storm spirits.**

**"How are you alive?" Dylan's form flickered. "That was enough lightning to kill twenty men!"**

_If he could survive that, _Thalia thought, eyes widening. _That would mean that._

She shook her head.

_He's another child of Zeus, nothing more. Dad broke the pact, what else is new?_

"Only a child of Zeus could survive that." Chris said, looking nervously at Hades and Poseidon.

Surprisingly, the two older brothers did not explode at Zeus like the demigods expect to happen. In fact, the worse the two did was glare at their younger brother. **

**"My turn," Jason said.**

**He reached in his pocket and pulled out the gold coin. He let his instincts take over, flipping the coin in the air like he'd done it a thousand times.**

**He caught it in his palm, and suddenly he was holding a sword-a wickedly sharp double-edged weapon. The ridged grip fit his fingers perfectly, and the whole thing was gold-hilt, handle, and blade.**

Annabeth frowned. She never heard of a golden weapon like that before.

"That's so cool." Travis said, eyes wide in awe.

"Doesn't it make you want to get one, Percy." Connor asked with a smirk.

"No." Percy replied immediately. "I'd rather have a pen that changes into Riptide, then a coin like Jason's. What happens if you don't catch it in time?"

"Instant death." Clarisse La Rue said, also preferring her Maimer over Jason's coin. "That thing sounds more like a flashy toy then a weapon."

**Dylan snarled and backed up. He looked at his two comrades and yelled, "Well? Kill him!"**

"Coward!" Ares shouted.

**The other storm spirits didn't look happy with that order, but they flew at Jason, their fingers crackling with electricity. **

**Jason swung at the first spirit. His blade passed through it, and the creature's smoky form disintegrated. The second spirit let loose a bolt of lightning, but Jason's blade absorbed the charge. Jason stepped in-one quick thrust, and the second storm spirit dissolved into gold powder.**

"I thought you said they were tough to beat." Travis said to Annabeth.

"They are." Annabeth insisted.

"Then why did Jason kill them so easily?" Chris asked.

"Maybe it's Jason's weapon." Katie suggested.

"Did you hear that, Clarisse?" Smirking Connor asked. "That 'flashy toy' just killed two tough monsters with one swipe each. Can your weapon do that?"

"Shut up." the daughter of Ares growled.

**Dylan wailed in outrage. He looked down as if expecting his comrades to reform, but their gold dust remains dispersed in the wind.**

Leo, handing Connor a breath mint, had no doubts that if the wind hadn't blown away the remains, the monsters would've reformed in two seconds flat.

**"Impossible! Who are you, half-blood?"**

**Piper was so stunned she dropped her club. "Jason, how...?"**

**Then Coach Hedge leaped back onto the skywalk and dumped Leo like a sack of flour.**

_I'm so pathetic. _Leo thought, rolling his eyes.

**"Spirits, fear me!" Hedge bellowed, flexing his short arms. Then he looked around and realized there was only Dylan.**

**"Curse it, boy!" he snapped at Jason. "Didn't you leave some for me? I like a challenge!"**

"Did he seriously just yell at Jason for killing the monsters?" Travis said with a laugh. "You'd think he would be impressed that Jason managed to do that by himself."

"I know, right?" Laughing Connor agreed.

**Leo got to his feet, breathing hard. He looked completely humiliated,**

Like he did now.

_Just endure it, Leo. _he thought to himself. _It won't be long before you get your chance to destroy the book_.

Leo glared daggers at the book as he wished he had heat vision.

**his hands bleeding from clawing at the rocks. "Yo, Coach Supergoat, whatever you are-I just fell down the freaking Grand Canyon! Stop asking challenges!"**

**Dylan hissed at them, but Jason could see fear in his eyes. "You have no idea how many enemies you've awakened, half-blood. My mistress will destroy _all _demigods. This war you _cannot _win."**

There was sudden silence at Dylan's words.

Then, there was a panic.

"War?" Annabeth gasped.

Percy cursed. Of course they weren't that lucky.

Chris grimaced.

"We barely survived this war!" Katie exclaimed.

"ENOUGH!" Zeus exclaimed, silencing the yelling and shouting.

"We will read the book," he raised his hand, stopping protests. "Find out who this 'mistress' and put a end to the war before it even begins. Got it?"

Everyone murmured their assent.

With that, Athena began to read again.

**He lunged at Jason, but Piper tackled the monster from behind. Even though he was of smoke, Piper somehow managed to connect. Both of them went sprawling. **

**Leo, Jason, and the coach surged forward to help,**

Leo had no idea why he even bothered, considering all he did was look like a weakling and got saved by coach _again__._

**but the spirit screamed with rage. He let loose a torrent that knocked them all backward. Jason and Coach Hedge landed on their butts. Jason's sword skidded across the glass. Leo hit the back of his head and curled on his side, dazed and groaning.**

Leo forced himself to laugh.

"Wow, that was not my day."

**Piper got the worst of it. She was thrown off Dylan's back and hit the railing, tumbling over the side until she was hanging by one hand over the abyss.**

Aphrodite chewed her bottom lip nervously.

**Jason started toward her, but Dylan screamed, "I'll settle for this one!"**

**He grabbed Leo's arm and began to rise, towing a half-conscious Leo below him.**

_Great._ Leo thought sarcastically. _Even with monsters, I'm always second best. _

Leo sighed.

_Well... more like seventh best._

**The storm spun faster, pulling them upward like a vacuum cleaner.**

**"Help!" Piper yelled. "Somebody!"**

**Then she slipped, screaming as she fell.**

_MY BABY! _Aphrodite mentally screamed, shouting out. "No!"

Everyone else also yelled out.

Meanwhile, Leo took out post-its from his tool belt.

Peeling off a pink paper from his pack, he began to make a tiny paper airplane.

**"Jason, go!" Hedge yelled. "Save her!"**

"Save her?" Travis exclaimed. "How is he supposed to do that? She just fell down the cliff!"

"Maybe she grabs another handhold." Paling Aphrodite said, refusing to believe her Piper was going to die.

**The coach launched himself at the spirit with some serious goat fu-lashing out with his hooves, knocking Leo free from the spirit's grasp. Leo dropped safely to the floor,**

_Dropped safely?_ Leo looked at the book as if it asked him for his eye. _I nearly cracked my head like a egg on the ground._

**but Dylan grappled the coach's arms instead. Hedge tried to head-butt him, then kicked him and called him a cupcake. They rose into the air, gaining speed.**

**Coach Hedge shouted down once more, "Save her! I got this!" **

**Then the satyr and the storm spirit spiraled into the clouds and disappeared.**

_**Save her? **_**Jason thought. _She's gone!_**

_No she's not! _Aphrodite denied, shaking her head.

**But again his instincts won. He ran to the railing, thinking, _I'm a lunatic_, and jumped over the side.**

Everyone stared at the book in shock.

Leo threw his pink paper plane in the air.

The mini plane did barrel roll before crash landing on the unforgiving ground.

He was just about to take another post-it, before Thalia yelled.

"What the Hades!"

Hades glared at her.

Leo looked up to see the flabbergasted looks on the others faces.

Percy's jaw dropped.

"Did he really just jump off a cliff?" Katie asked in disbelief.

"Is he suicidal?" Connor asked.

"I thought instincts help you survive," Travis said. "not kill you."

**Jason wasn't scared of heights. He was scared of being smashed against the canyon floor five hundred feet below.**

Leo nodded. He can relate to that.

**He figured he hadn't accomplished anything except for dying along with Piper, but he tucked in his arms and plummeted headfirst. The sides of canyon raced past like a film on fast-forward. His face felt like it was peeling off. **

Thalia shuddered.

**In a heartbeat, he caught up with Piper, who was failing wildly. He tackled her waist and closed his eyes, waiting for death. Piper screamed. The wind whistled in Jason's ears.**

**He wondered what dying would feel like.**

The demigods grimaced.

That was a common question for a demigod to have.

_Don't say that, Jason._ Aphrodite thought with a small whimper.

**He was thinking, probably not so good. He wished somehow they could never hit bottom.**

Leo threw his green mini plane.

The plane did a loop-de-loop before landing softly on the ground. Leo smiled proudly at his plane's success.

**Suddenly the wind died. Piper's scream turned into a strangled gasp. Jason thought they must be dead, but he hadn't felt any impact.**

**"J-J-Jason," Piper managed.**

**He opened his eyes. They weren't falling. They were floating in midair, a hundred feet above the river.**

Aphrodite happily clapped her hands and cheered

"No way." Travis said, eyes wide in awe.

"How is that even possible?" Percy asked.

Thalia smiled. She didn't care how it happened, all that mattered was that Jason and Piper were safe.

"Can you do that, Thalia?" Annabeth asked her closet friend.

Thalia shrugged.

"I dunno, I never tried."

**He hugged Piper tight, and she repositioned herself so she was hugging him too. They were nose to nose. Her heart beat so hard, Jason could feel it through her clothes.**

**Her breath smelled like cinnamon.**

Artemis gagged, while Aphrodite sighed with content.

**She said, "How did you-"**

**"I didn't," he said. "I think I would know if I could fly..."**

**But then he thought: _I don't even know who I am._**

**He imagined going up, Piper yelped as they shot a few feet higher. They weren't exactly, Jason decided. He could feel pressure under his feet like they were balancing at the top of a geyser.**

**"The air is supporting us," he said.**

**"Well, tell it to support us more! Get us out of here!"**

**Jason looked down. The easiest thing would be to sink gently to the canyon floor. Then he looked up. The rain stopped. The storm clouds didn't seem as bad, but they were still rumbling and flashing. There was no guarantee the spirits were gone for good.**

**He had no idea what had happened to Coach Hedge. And he'd left Leo up there, barely conscious.**

**"We have to help them," Piper said, as if reading his thoughts. "Can you-"**

**"Let's see." Jason thought _Up_, and instantly they shot skyward.**

**The fact he was riding the winds might've been cool under different circumstances, but he was too much in shock. As soon as they landed on the skywalk, they ran to Leo.**

**Piper turned Leo over, and he groaned. His army coat was soaked from the rain. His curly hair glittered gold from rolling around in monster dust.**

"Ew!" Aphrodite remarked.

Leo grimaced.

**But at least he wasn't dead.**

**"Stupid...ugly...goat," he muttered.**

"Are you serious?" Percy said to Leo. "The guy saved your life _**twice** _and that's how you talk about him?"

Percy shook his head.

"How ungrateful." Nico murmured, Thalia nodded her head in agreement.

Leo shrugged, not bothering to tell them how guilty he felt for making the satyr sacrifice his life for him.

He threw his bright yellow airplane.

He frowned when it took a nose dive into the ground.

**"Where did he go?" Piper asked.**

**Leo pointed straight up. "Never came down. Please tell me he didn't actually save my life."**

Percy rolled his eyes.

**"Twice," Jason said.**

**Leo groaned even louder. "What happened? The tornado guy, the gold sword... I hit my head. That's it, right? I'm hallucinating?"**

**Jason had forgotten about the sword. He walked over to where it was lying and picked it up. The blade was well balanced. On a hunch, he flipped it. Midspin, the sword shrank back into a coin and landed in his palm.**

**"Yep," Leo said. "Definitely hallucinating."**

**Piper shivered in her rain-soaked clothes. "Jason, those things-"**

**"Venti," he said. "Storm spirits."**

**"Okay. You acted like...like you'd seen them before. Who _are_ you?"**

_That's what I want to know. _Thalia thought.

**He shook his head. "That's what I've trying to tell you. I don't know."**

**The storm dissipated. The other kids from the Wllderness School were staring out of the glass doors in horror.**

"Oh, I forgot they were even there." Leo said, throwing Pink.2.

The mini plane did a U-turn and crashed itself on Leo's forehead.

"Getting hit on the head can make you forget things sometimes." he added, crumpling Pink.2.

**Security guards were working on the locks now, but they didn't seem to be having any luck.**

**"Coach Hedge said he had to protect three people," Jason remembered. "I think he meant us."**

**"And that thing Dylan turned into..." Piper shuddered. "God, I can't believe it was hitting on me.**

Aphrodite scrunched her nose in disgust.

** He called us... what, demigods?"**

**Leo lay on his back, staring at the sky. He didn't seem anxious to get up. "Don't know what _demi _means," he said.**

"_Demi_ means half." Athena explained to Leo.

Annabeth nodded in agreement.

"Thanks." Leo muttered, throwing his newest plane.

The plane soared until it landed by Hades' makeshift throne.

Leo smiled sheepishly under the god's glare.

"Stop making planes." Hades ordered.

Leo reluctantly put away his post-it notes.

He sighed as he tried to figure out what to do next.

**"But I'm not feeling too godly. You guys feeling godly?"**

"If you're a demigod, you'll be feeling more crappy then godly." Connor told Leo.

_Well, that explains my life._ Leo thought.

**There was a brittle sound like dry twigs snapping, and the cracks in the skywalk began to widen.**

**"We need to get off this thing," Jason said. "Maybe if we-"**

**"Ohhh-kay," Leo interrupted. "Look up there and tell me if those are flying horses."**

"That's probably people from camp." Annabeth stated.

**At first Jason thought Leo had hit his head too hard. Then he saw a dark shape descending from the east-too slow for a plane, too a bird. As it got closer he could see a pair of winged animals-gray four-legged, exactly like horses-except each had a twenty-foot wingspan. And they were pulling a brightly painted box with two wheels: a chariot.**

**"Reinforcements," he said. "Hedge told me an extraction squad was coming for us."**

**"Extraction squad?" Leo struggled to his feet. "That sounds painful."**

**"And where are they extracting us to?" Piper asked.**

**Jason watched as the chariot landed on the far end of the skywalk. The flying horses tucked in their wings and cantered nervously across the glass, as if they sensed it was near breaking. Two teenagers stood in the chariot-a tall blond girl maybe a little older than Jason,**

The demigods immediately looked at Annabeth.**  
**

"It could be my sister." Annabeth said. "It might not be me."

**and a bulky dude with shaved head and face like a pile of bricks.**

Leo smiled at the mention of the rainbow pony dude.

**They both wore jeans and orange T-shirts, with shields tossed over their backs. The girl leaped off before the chariot had even finished moving. She pulled a knife and ran toward Jason's group while the bulky dude was reining in the horses.**

"Your sister sounds a lot like you, Annabeth." Travis commented.

"Has the same choice of weapon too." Connor added.

**"Where is he?" the girl demanded. Her grey eyes were fierce and startling.**

"It's Annabeth." Percy confirmed, nodding his head.

Annabeth frowned, wondering what her future self was doing there.

_Could it have something to do with the special package? _she wondered.

**"Where's who?" Jason asked.**

**She frowned like his answer was unacceptable. Then she turned to Leo and Piper.**

**"What about Gleeson? Where is your protector, Gleeson Hedge?"**

**The coach's first name was Gleeson? Jason might've laughed if the morning hadn't been quite so weird and scary. Gleeson Hedge: football coach, goat man, protector of demigods. Sure. Why not?**

**Leo cleared his throat. "He got taken by some... tornado things."**

**"Venti," Jason said. "Storm spirits."**

**The blond girl arched an eyebrow. "You mean anemoi thuellai? That's the Greek term. Who are you, and what happened?"**

**Jason did his best to explain, through it was hard to meet those intense gray eyes.**

_I know the feeling. _Percy thought, casting Annabeth a smile.

However, she was too occupied thinking to notice.

**About halfway through the story, the other guy from the chariot came over. He stood there glaring at them, his arms crossed. He had a tattoo of a rainbow on his biceps, which seemed a little unusual.**

"A rainbow?" Snickering Travis said. "Really?"

Connor and Leo laughed.

**When Jason had finished his story, the blond girl didn't look ****satisfied. "No, no, no! She told me he would be here. She told me if I came here, I'd find the answer."**

Percy frowned with worry, wondering what had gotten Annabeth so distressed.

Annabeth twirled her necklace in her hand.

_Who is he? And why am I getting so worked up over him going missing? _

Annabeth closed her eyes.

_Who would make me go crazy if they went missing?"_

She slowly opened her eyes in time to meet Percy's worried ones.

She instantly thought back to when Percy went missing after causing a explosion on Mt. Saint Helen's. She had never felt so worried and upset before.

Her thoughts suddenly turned to the title.

_The Lost Hero._

Annabeth let out a soft gasp, before tightly squeezing her necklace.

_No it has to be another hero._ Annabeth thought. _It has to be._

But Annabeth couldn't think of anybody else who better qualify the position.

**"Annabeth," the bald guy grunted. "Check it out." He pointed at Jason's feet. Jason hadn't thought much about it, but he was still missing his left shoe, which had been blown off by the lightning. His bare foot felt okay, but it looked like a lump of charcoal.**

**"The guy with one shoe," said the bald dude. "He's the answer."**

**"No, Butch," the girl insisted. "He can't be. I was tricked."**

**She glared at the sky as though it had done something wrong. "What do you want from me?" she screamed.**

Percy's concern for was growing more and more by the second.

Athena, who figured out who her daughter was talking about, gave Annabeth a worried look.

_That boy is nothing but trouble. _the goddess of wisdom thought, shaking her head.

Annabeth slightly slouched, as if she was losing the ability to hold herself upright.

**"What have you done with him?"**

**The skywalk shuddered, and the horses whinnied urgently.**

**"Annabeth," said the bald dude, Butch, "we gotta leave. Let's get these three to camp and figure it out there. Those storm spirits might come back."**

**She fumed for a moment. "Fine." She fixed Jason a resentful look. "We'll settle this later."**

"You didn't have to get angry at him." Thalia scolded. "He didn't do anything."

Annabeth looked apologetic. "I know."

**She turned on her heel and marched toward the chariot.**

**Piper shook her head. "What's her problem? What's going on?"**

**"Seriously," Leo agreed. **

**"We have to get you out of here," Butch said. "I'll explain on the way."**

**"I'm not going anywhere with her." Jason gestured toward the blonde. "She looks like she wants to kill me." **

Annabeth grimaced at the horrible first impression Jason made of her, but she couldn't blame him for thinking that way about her.

**Butch hesitated. "Annabeth's okay. You gotta cut her some slack. She had vision telling her to come here, to find a guy with one shoe. That was supposed to be the answer to her problem."**

**"What problem?" Piper asked.**

"Whatever it is," Percy said to her. "We'll face it together."

He gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze, but it did little to comfort her. If possible, it made her feel worse.

**"She's been looking for one of our campers, who's been missing for three days," Butch said. "She's going out of her mind with worry. She hoped he'd be here."**

The tension raised as everyone waited to hear what was next.

Leo stopped playing with the buttons on his jacket and looked up, curious to see everyone's reaction.

**"Her boyfriend," Butch said. "A guy named Percy Jackson."**

"HER _WHAT_?" Percy exclaimed.

Blushing Annabeth was speechless.

Aphrodite squealed with joy, this time, throwing her arms around Ares.

Nico's eyes widened. He blinked furiously in effort to hold back tears.

_I should've known,_ Nico thought, balling his hands into fists. _I'm such a_ **idiot**.

Nico gritted his teeth.

Athena also gritted her teeth as she sat in her throne.

_Calm done._ she thought. _This relationship will not last forever. Give them a couple months, at most, and they're going to breakup and search for other people._

Athena slowly relaxed, confident Annabeth would eventually lose interest in Percy. ***

"Well, it's about time." Clarisse said gruffly, getting over her shock.

"I know." Travis agreed, nodding his head. "Finally you guys know how you feel about each other."

"It's a shame you guys needed a book to figure it out." Katie added.

"Wait a minute," Leo said, looking back and forth between the blushing couple. "You guys aren't dating."

"Apparently, not yet." Percy said, giving Annabeth a shy grin.

_That would explains why they aren't all over each other like they were at the stables. _Leo thought.

"Well, Spoiler Alert!" Leo exclaimed with a smile. "In the future, you're going to be a couple." ****

* * *

***~ One thing I never understood when reading Book Reading fanfictions is, why does Percy and the other seven feel fine with people reading their thoughts. It always sort of seemed OOC to me. I mean, all they do is get embarrassed and that's it. So I thought, to make things more interesting, let's have Leo attempt to destroy the books.**

****~ The reason why Hades and Poseidon don't flip out about Zeus having another kid is because they already knew, in case some of you are wondering.**

*****~ I personally don't see Athena being helicopter parent as most do. Although she does disapprove of Annabeth's relationship with Percy, she does respect Percy in some ways. So, I think she would let them continue dating.**

******~ Everyone is not effected by Percy's disappearance yet, because they are excited Percy and Annabeth are finally a couple. However, they will express their feelings about Percy's disappearance in the next chapter.**

**Questions:**

**Julia A Guest: I want to tell you what I have planned. But I'm going to keep you in suspense. Don't worry, your question will be answered in later chapters.**

**Guest: Leo will be the only character from the future, the reason why will also be answered in later chapters.**

**AN: I finished earlier than I expected too. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, I'll let you be the judge.**

**A big thanks to Julia A Guest, ShyReader, cherriomax, dont judge a book by its cover, Sofia, orsumfenix, Person, Guest, and . for reviewing the previous chapter.**

**If anyone has any questions, comments, or suggestions, feel free to put them in the reviews. Thank you for reading my story.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: All the words in bold and characters in this story are not mine. All rights go to Rick Riordan.**

* * *

"Would anyone else like to read?" Athena asked.

"I will, Lady Athena." Chris said, taking the book from the goddess of wisdom.

Once he was seated, Chris began to read.

"**Piper III,**"

Leo resisted the tempting urge to tackle Chris to the ground and burn the book right there. If Chris was alone, he might have tried it, but there were too many people that could (and would) stop him.

Leo took a deep breath in effort to calm himself.

"**After A Morning Of Storm Spirits, goat men, and flying boyfriends, Piper should've been losing her mind. Instead all she felt was felt was dread.**

Chris raised a eyebrow at this.

"Well, at least she's not losing her mind." Travis commented.

**It's starting, she thought. Just like the dream said.**

The demigods stiffened at the mention of a dream, knowing it wasn't good news.

Leo took out a plastic bag of straws from his tool belt.

**She stood in the back of the chariot with Leo and Jason, while the bald guy, Butch, handled the reins, and the blond girl, Annabeth, adjusted a bronze navigation device. They rose over the Grand Canyon and headed east, icy wind ripping through Piper's jacket. Behind them, more storm clouds were gathering. **

"Sounds like more anemoi thuellai are coming." Katie said with a frown.

"That was fast." Annabeth noticed, slowly scooting closer to Percy.

**The chariot lurched and bumped. It had no seat belts and the back was wide open, so Piper wondered if Jason would catch her again if she fell. That had been the most disturbing part of the morning-not that Jason could fly but that he'd held her in his arms and yet didn't know who she was.**

_So, did she want him to let her fall to her death? _Leo wondered, making the foundation of his straw house.

**All semester she'd worked on his relationship, trying to get Jason to notice her as more than a friend. Finally she'd gotten the big to kiss her.**

**Now she didn't even have him. It was like someone had wiped his memory and she was stuck in the "do over" of all time.**

Aphrodite shook her head sympathetically.

**She wanted to scream. Jason stood right next to her: those sky blue eyes, close-cropped blond hair, that cute little scar on his upper lip. **

Thalia gasped, that 'cute little' scar on his upper lip was proof Jason was in fact the Jason Grace she knew and loved.

_Where has he been all these years?_ Thalia thought blinking back tears, not wanting to be confronted by the others yet.

**His face was kind and gentle, but always a little sad. And he just stared at the horizon, not even noticing her.**

**Meanwhile, Leo was being annoying as usual.**

Leo laughed at that, finishing the skeleton of his house.

Taking out Popsicle sticks from his tool belt, he began to add the walls and floor.

**"This is so cool!" He spit a pegasus feather out of his mouth. "Where are we going?"**

"Hey Nico,"

Nico scowled at the sound of Percy's voice.

"Yeah?" he asked, keeping his voice as emotionless as possible.

"Doesn't Leo's actions remind you of anyone?" Percy teased.

"No." Nico replied with the slightest bit of anger in his voice.

Percy raised a eyebrow, detecting the anger.

**"A safe place," Annabeth said. "The only place for kids like us. Camp Half-Blood."**

**"Half-Blood?" Piper was immediately on guard. She hated that word. She'd been called a half-blood to many times-Half Cherokee, half-white-and it was never a compliment.**

Aphrodite gnashed her teeth, promising herself she would find the people who said these things to her daughter and make them pay.

**"Is that some kind of bad joke?"**

**"She means we're demigods," Jason said. "Half god, half mortal."**

**Annabeth looked back. "You seem to know a lot, Jason. But, yes, demigods. My mom is Athena, goddess of wisdom. Butch here is the son of Iris, the rainbow goddess."**

"Well, at least that explains the rainbow tattoo." Travis said, laughing with his brother.

Snickering Leo added wheels to his house, deciding to make a mobile home.

**Leo choked. "Your mom is a rainbow goddess?"**

**"Got a problem with that?" Butch said. **

"I'd be careful about what I say if I were you, Leo." Katie warned.

"I was." Leo assured, at the same time Thalia snorted.

"This is Leo we're talking about," she said. "He probably said something offensive that made Butch want to kick him off the chariot."

_She's actually not that far off. _Leo wondered if he was really that predictable.

**"No, no," Leo said. "Rainbows. Very macho."**

"Nice save." Hermes said with a chuckle.

**"Butch is our best equestrian," Annabeth said. "He gets along great with the pegasi."**

Clarisse frowned, unable to stop herself from thinking about her best friend, Silena Beauregard.

Aphrodite sighed, also thinking about her other daughter.

**"Rainbows, ponies," Leo muttered.**

**"I'm gonna toss you off the chariot," Butch warned.**

Thalia looked unsurprised. She couldn't blame Butch for feeling that way.

**"Demigods," Piper said. "You mean you think you're...you think we're-"**

**Lightning flashed. The chariot shuddered, and Jason yelled, "Left wheel's on fire!"**

"Oh gods!" Thalia exclaimed.

**Piper stepped back. Sure enough, the wheel was burning, white flames lapping up the side of the chariot-except these looked more like horses than angels.**

"I thought they look like humans." Confused Travis said.

Annabeth opened her mouth to explain, but Chris interrupted.

"It's alright Annabeth, you're about to explain it to Piper in the book."

Annabeth gave Chris a grateful smile. The last thing she wanted was to repeat herself.

Leo pushed his mobile home, which looked more like a square on wheels.

The mobile home rolled forward, until it bumped Ares' foot.

Seeing the thing by his foot, he looked up at Leo and smiled a unfriendly smile before 'gently' kicking it back.

Leo ducked as the object zoomed past his head.

The mobile home smashed into splinters on wall behind him.

Muttering curses to Ares, Leo crawled next to it, searching for any parts he could reuse.

Taking the wheels, he decided he'd make a car next.

**She started to say, "Why are they-"**

**"Anemoi come in different shapes," Annabeth said.**

**"Sometimes human, sometimes stallions, depending on how chaotic they are.**

"Exactly." Annabeth said.

**Hold on. This is going to get rough."**

**Butch flicked the reins. The pegasi on a burst of speed, and the chariot blurred.**

**Piper's stomach crawled into her throat. Her vision went black,and when it came back to normal, they were in a totally different place.**

**A cold gray ocean stretched out to the left. Snow-covered fields, roads, and forests spread to the right. Directly below them was a green valley, like an island of springtime, rimmed with snowy hills on three sides and water to the north. Piper saw a cluster of buildings like ancient Greek temples, a big blue mansion, ball courts, a lake, and a climbing wall that seemed to be on fire. **

"Good old camp." Percy said fondly. "My home away from home."

"My Fields of Punishment away from the Underworld." Dionysus muttered, flipping the page of his magazine.

**But before she could really process all she was seeing, their wheels came off and the chariot dropped out of the sky.**

Thalia paled.

**Annabeth and Butch tried to maintain control. The pegasi labored to hold the chariot in fly pattern, but they seemed exhausted from their burst of speed, and bearing the weight of the chariot and five people was too much.**

**"The lake!" Annabeth yelled. "Aim for the lake!"**

**Piper remembered something her dad had once told her, about hitting water from up high being as bad as hitting cement.**

"It's true." Annabeth said with a frown. "But it's better than hitting the ground."

Leo, finishing his car, pushed it back and forth on the floor.

Its wheels groaned and squeaked after the abuse it took from the god of war.

**And-_BOOM_.**

**The biggest shock was the cold. She was underwater, so disoriented that she didn't know which way was up.**

**She just had time to think: _This would be a stupid way to die._ Then faces appeared in the green murk-girls with long black hair and glowing yellow eyes. They smiled at her, grabbed her shoulders, and hauled her up. **

**They tossed her, gasping and shivering, onto shore. Nearby, Butch stood in the lake, cutting out the harness off the pegasi. Fortunately, the horses were okay, but they were flapping their wings and splashing water everywhere.**

**Jason, Leo, and Annabeth were on shore, surrounded by kids giving them blankets and asking questions. Somebody took Piper by the arms and helped her stand. Apparently kids fell into the lake a lot, because a detail of campers ran up with a big bronze leaf blower-looking things and blasted Piper with hot air; and in about to seconds her clothes were dry.**

_Sqqqquuuuueaaaaak._

_Sqqqqquuuuueeeeaaaak._

_Sqqqqqquuueaaaaakkkk._

_Squealllllllll!_

Leo's car's wheels made a particularly loud scream in protest as he made the car do a U-turn._  
_

He was just about to make the car do a figure eight, before Zeus shouted.

"Stop playing with that infernal car!"

Leo sighed and put the car to the side.

**There were at least twenty campers milling around-the youngest maybe nine, the oldest college age, eighteen or nineteen-and all of them had orange T-shirts like Annabeth's. Piper looked back at the water and saw those strange girls just below the surface, their hair floating in the current. They waved like, _toodle-oo_, and disappeared into the depths. A second later the wreckage of the chariot was tossed from the lake and landed nearby with a wet crunch.**

**"Annabeth!" A guy with a bow and quiver on his back pushed through the crowd. "I said you could borrow the chariot, not destroy it!"**

The Stolls laughed.

"Wow, Annabeth," Connor began. "You've been hanging out with Percy to much."

"Yeah," Travis nodded. "Now you're destroying things just like him."

Percy's hand slowly grabbed Annabeth's and gave it a soft squeeze.

With a happy smile, Annabeth squeezed back.

**"Will, I'm sorry," Annabeth sighed. "I'll get fixed, I promise."**

Will Solace's eyes widened in surprise at his sudden appearance in the book.

**Will scowled at his broken chariot. Then he sized up Piper, Leo and Jason. "These are the ones? Way older than thirteen. Why haven't they been claimed already?"**

"Good question." Percy said, glaring at the gods

Hephaestus looked down at his latest project on his lap, while Aphrodite was too occupied cooing over the fact that Percy and Annabeth were holding hands.

_Too cute! _Aphrodite thought with a huge smile.

**"Claimed?" Leo asked.**

**Before Annabeth could explain, Will said, "Any sign of Percy?"**

Remembering Percy Jackson's sudden disappearance, the tension was back.

Depressed Annabeth frowned, wondering where her new boyfriend had gone.

Percy gave her hand another squeeze, reminding her he hadn't left yet.

Will ducked his head, sorry he had asked.

**The campers muttered. Piper had no idea who this guy Percy was, but his disappearance seemed to be a big deal.**

Percy gave his friends a shaky smile.

**Another girl stepped forward-tall, Asian, dark hair in ringlets, plenty of jewelry and perfect makeup. Somehow she managed to make a orange T-shirt look glamorous. ****She glanced at Leo, fixed her eyes on Jason like he might be worthy of her attention, then she curled her lip at Piper as if she were a week old burrito that had been pulled out of a Dumpster. Piper knew this girl's type. She's dealt with a lot of girls like this at the Wilderness School and every other stupid school her father had sent her to.**

**Piper knew instantly they were going to be enemies.**

**"Well," the girl said. "I hope they're worth the trouble.**

Leo couldn't help but frown when he remembered Drew was looking at him when she said that.

Percy narrowed his eyes. This girl also reminded him of all the bullies he's faced at his old schools.**  
**

**Leo snorted. "Gee, thanks. What are we, your new pets?"**

"You tell her, Leo!" Travis cheered.

Leo, unsure how to react, just smirked.

**"No kidding," Jason said. "How about the answers before you start judging us-like, what is this place, why are we here, how long do we have to stay?"**

**Piper had the same questions, but a wave of anxiety washed over her head. _Worth the trouble_. If they only knew about her dream. They had no idea...**

Everyone exchanged confused and concerned looks.

Leo shook his head, wishing Piper had just told someone instead of keeping it bottled up halfway through the quest.

**"Jason," Annabeth said. "I promise we'll answer your questions. And Drew"-**

Drew Tanaka, who had being filing her finger nails, looked up at the mention of her name.

Aphrodite frowned when she realized her daughter, Drew, had been acting like that.

**she frowned at the glamour girl. -"all demigods are worth saving. But I'll admit, the trip didn't accomplish what I hoped."**

**"Hey," Piper said, "we didn't ask to be brought here."**

**Drew sniffed. "And nobody _wants_ you, hon. Does your hair always look like a dead badger?"**

Aphrodite frowned. _Her hair wasn't that bad it just needed a little fixing, that's all._

The demigods in the room glared at the book, as if it were Drew herself.

**Piper stepped forward, ready to smack her,**

"Oh please." Drew scoffed, rolling her eyes. "I'd like to see her try, I'm in a good mood for a laugh."

**but Annabeth said, "Piper, stop."**

**Piper did. She wasn't a bit scared of Drew, **

"You should." Drew murmured, looking at her appearance through her compact mirror.

**but Annabeth didn't seem like somebody she wanted for an enemy.**

"Good choice." Surprisingly Leo said, shuddering as he remembered the look on her face after he accidentally attacked Rome.

Some of the demigods gave him a questioning glance, wondering what he did to face the daughter of Athena's wrath.

**"We need to make our new arrivals feel welcome," Annabeth said, with another pointed look at Drew. "We'll assign them each a guide, give them a tour of camp. Hopefully by the campfire tonight, they'll be claimed."**

** "Would somebody tell me what _claimed_ means?" Piper asked.**

**Suddenly there was a collective gasp. The campers backed away. At first Piper thought she'd done something wrong. Then she realized their faces were bathed in a strange red light, as if someone had lit a torch behind her. She turned and almost forgot how to breathe**

**Floating over Leo's head was a blazing holographic image-a fiery hammer.**

"Why explain it, when you could show it." Travis said.

"That was fast." Demeter remarked, not really surprised. Like herself, Hephaestus was usually quick about claiming his children. Whether it was because he didn't want his children to feel abandoned like he did as a child, or he was worried he would be so caught up in his work he might forget, Demeter had no clue.

**"That," Annabeth said, "is claiming."**

**"What'd I do?" Leo backed toward the lake. Then he glanced up and yelped. "Is my hair on fire?"**

Everyone laughed.

Leo sheepishly smiled, wondering if he could possibly die from humiliation.

"Seriously?" Katie asked with a giggle. "You just fell in a lake, how on earth would you manage to get your hair on fire?"

Leo shrugged, not telling her he thought he accidentally set his hair on fire.

_That would have been difficult to explain. _Leo thought.

**He ducked, but the symbol followed him, bobbing and weaving so it looked like he was trying to write something in flames with his head.**

"Best. Claim. Ever." Travis said still laughing.

**"This can't be good," Butch muttered. "The curse-"**

The laughter quickly died down.

"Curse?" Chris repeated.

"What is he talking about?" Percy asked.

"Did somebody curse the Hephaestus cabin?" Thalia questioned.

Hephaestus bit his lip anxiously.

**"Butch, shut up," Annabeth said. "Leo, you've just been claimed-"**

**"By a god," Jason interrupted. "That's the symbol of Vulcan, isn't it?"**

"That's the Roman name for Hephaestus." Annabeth said, moving closer to Percy until they were shoulder to shoulder.

"What is up with this guy and the Roman names." Connor asked with slight exasperation.

**All eyes turned to him.**

**"Jason," Annabeth said carefully, "how did you know that?"**

**"I'm not sure."**

**"Vulcan?" Leo demanded. "I don't even LIKE _Star Trek_.**

Vulcan sputtered at the boy's words, before flickering back to his dazed counterpart.

Luckily, the demigods were too busy laughing at Leo's comment to notice.

**What are you talking about?"**

**"Vulcan is the Roman name for Hephaestus," Annabeth said, "the god of blacksmiths and fire."**

**The fiery hammer faded, but Leo kept swatting the air like he was afraid it was following him. "The god of what? Who?"**

**Annabeth turned to the guy with the bow. "Will, would you take Leo, give him a tour? Introduce him to his bunk-mates in Cabin Nine." **

**"Sure, Annabeth."**

**"What's Cabin Nine?" Leo asked. "And I'm not a Vulcan!"**

The Stolls laughed.

**"Come on, Mr. Spock, I'll explain everything."**

Their laughter soon was followed by others.

**Will put a hand on his shoulder and steered him off toward the cabins.**

**Annabeth turned her attention back to Jason. Usually Piper didn't like it when other girls checked out her boyfriend, but Annabeth didn't seem to care that he was a good-looking guy.**

"Why would I when I already have one." Annabeth whispered in Percy's ear.

Percy smiled from ear to ear, feeling like he ate ambrosia.

**She studied him more like he was a complicated blueprint.**

Athena smiled. That sounded like the Annabeth she knew and loved.

** Finally she said, "Hold out your arm."**

**Piper saw what she was looking at, and her eyes widened.**

**Jason had taken off his windbreaker after his dip in the lake, leaving his arms bare, and on the inside of his right forearm was a tattoo. How had Piper never noticed it before?**

**She'd looked at Jason's arms a million times. The tattoo couldn't have just appeared, but it was darkly etched, impossible to miss: a dozen straight lines like a bar code, and over that eagle with the letters of SPQR.**

Everyone stiffened.

The demigods couldn't help but feel a overwhelming feeling of dread at the mention of the tattoo.

"What a weird tattoo." Travis said in attempt to lighten the mood.

"I know." Connor agreed. "I hope he didn't pay for that."

**"I've never seen marks like this," Annabeth said. "Where did you get them?"**

**Jason shook his head. "I'm getting really tired of saying this, but I don't know."**

**The other campers pushed forward, trying to get a look at Jason's tattoo. The marks seemed to them a lot-almost like a declaration of war.**

Nobody liked the sound of that.

Zeus felt a headache coming on.

_It's going to be like the Civil War all over again. _

The god grimaced at the thought.

**"They look burned into your skin," Annabeth noticed.**

Thalia frowned at the idea of someone burning a crazy tattoo on her little brother.

_It's almost like whoever did it labeled him like he was their property._ Thalia shuddered.

Everyone winced at that.

**"They were," Jason said. Then he winced as if his head was aching. "I mean... I think so. I don't remember."**

**No one said anything. It was clear the campers saw Annabeth as the leader. They were waiting for her verdict.**

**"He needs to Chiron," Annabeth decided. "Drew, would you-"**

"Drew?" Thalia repeated incredulously. She gave Annabeth a look of disbelief.

Annabeth frowned. "I guess I was so focused on what that tattoo meant, I really didn't think about it."

**"Absolutely." Drew laced her arm through Jason's.**

**"This way, sweetie. I'll introduce to our director. He's...an interesting guy." She flashed Piper a smug look and led Jason toward the big blue house on the hill.**

Leo shook his sympathetically at Drew, sitting across the room.

_Poor Drew,_ Leo thought. _She won't even know what hit her._

**The crowd began to disperse, until only Annabeth and Piper were left.**

**"Who's Chiron?" Piper asked. "Is Jason in some kind of trouble?"**

**Annabeth hesitated. "Good question, Piper. Come on, I'll give you tour. We need to talk."**

"That's the end of the chapter." Chris said, holding out the book.

_Athena said that after two Piper chapters, I'm next. _Leo nervously ran his hand through his hair. _We just read one Piper chapter. We have to have a break soon._

"Reading another chapter sounds great and all," Leo shook his head when Chris offered him the book. "But, I'm starting to feel hungry. Could we have a break soon?"

Zeus sighed. A break sounded great right about now.

"After this chapter, we can have a break." Zeus said.

Leo smiled.

Crawling over to Grover, the happy son of Hephaestus took out a black sharpie from his tool belt

_Just on more chapter, _Leo drew a smiley face on the satyr's forehead. _I can deal with that._

The words 'WASSUP?' was written on Grover's head.

* * *

**AN: I hope you enjoy you this chapter! I would like to give a big thank you to The Demigod Gryffindor, ShyReader842, luisporras180625, Dan Son of Poseidon, digimmonfanatic4ever, creamyhero, and bookworm of gallifrey for reviewing the previous chapter.**

**Questions:**

**creamyhero: Actually Nico is not as lucky as you think. I'm planning on doing The Lost Hero, Mark of Athena, and The House of Hades. I will be skipping the Son of Neptune. The answer why would be answered in later chapters.**

**Thank you to everyone for reading my story! If anyone has any questions, comments, or suggestions, feel free to put them in the reviews.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: All the words in bold and characters in this story are not mine. All rights go to Rick Riordan.**

* * *

Leo felt like a cell phone set on vibrate. As much as he desperately wanted to make as much noise of excitement as he could, he restrained himself from making any noise remotely possible.

However, this silent vow had little, if any, effect on his constantly moving body.

_Keep it together, Valdez. _Leo thought, untying his shoelace. _You have just one more chapter before it's good bye book, and hello ashes._

Leo grinned, firmly retying his shoes for the fourth time.

"Does anybody want to read?" Chris asked, still holding the book.

"I'll read." Katie volunteered, taking the book.

"**Piper IV**," she read out loud.

**Piper Soon Realized Annabeth's Heart wasn't in the tour.**

**She talked about all this amazing stuff the camp offered-magic, archery, pegasus riding, the lava wall, fighting monsters- but she showed no excitement as if her mind were elsewhere. She pointed out the open-air dining pavilion that overlooked Long Island Sound. (Yes, Long Island, New York; they'd traveled that far on the chariot.)**

**Annabeth explained how Camp Half-Blood was mostly a summer camp, but some kids stayed here year-round, and they added so many campers it was always crowded now, even in winter.**

**Piper wondered who ran the camp, and how they'd known Piper and her friends belonged here. She wondered if she'd have to stay full-time, or if she'd be any good at the activities. Could you flunk out of monster fighting?**

"Well, yes, you could." Nico muttered. "But flunking is a nice way of saying dying."

**A million questions bubbled in her head, but given Annabeth's mood, she decided to keep quiet.**

Annabeth frowned. Although she did appreciate Piper being thoughtful about her feelings, she wished Piper had asked her questions anyway. Annabeth did not want to be the person who deprives people from asking questions.

**As they climbed a hill at the edge of camp, Piper turned and got an amazing view of the valley-a big stretch of the woods to the northwest, a beautiful beach, the creek, the canoe lake, lush green fields, and the whole layout of the cabins-a bizarre assortment of buildings arranged like a Greek omega, with a loop of cabins around a central green, and two wings sticking out the bottom on either side. Piper counted twenty cabins in all.**

The demigods smiled, happy the gods kept their promise.

**One glowed golden,**

Apollo and his cabin cheered at the mention of their cabin.

**Another silver.**

Artemis and her hunters smiled.

**One had grass on the roof.**

Demeter beamed in pride.

Meanwhile, Katie was relieved that Piper didn't see it when the roof had chocolate bunnies on it.

**Another was bright red with barbed wire trenches.**

"The best cabin!" Ares exclaimed, Clarisse nodded her head in agreement.

**One cabin was black with fiery green torches out front.**

For the first time after the recent news about Percy and Annabeth's relationship, Nico smiled.

Although he knew he would rarely, if ever, visit Camp Half-Blood after this, it was still nice to know his father finally had a cabin at the camp.

Hades looked surprised he had gotten a cabin. He had honestly thought Hera would convince his brother not to give him one.

**All of it seemed like a different world from the snowy hills and fields outside.**

**"The valley is protected from mortal eyes," Annabeth said. "As you can see, the weather is controlled, too. Each cabin represents a Greek god-a place for that god's children to live."**

**She looked at Piper like she was trying to judge how Piper was handling the news.**

**"You're saying Mom was a goddess."**

**Annabeth nodded. "You're taking this awfully calmly."**

"Way better than Leo did." Travis teased.

Connor snickered.

Smiling Leo shrugged, drumming his fists on the hard marble floor.

**Piper couldn't tell her why. She couldn't admit that this just confirmed some weird feelings she'd had for years, arguments she'd had with her father about why there were no photos of Mom in the house, and why Dad would tell her exactly how and why her mom had left them. But mostly, the dream had warned her this was coming. _Soon they will find you, demigod, _that voice rumbled. _When they do, follow our directions. Cooperate, and your father might live._**

Aphrodite gasped.

"Do you think it might be the Titians?" Katie asked.

"No, it couldn't be," Annabeth denied. "We just beat them."

**Piper took a shaky breath. "I guess after this, it's easier to believe. So who's my mom?" **

**"We should know soon," Annabeth said, "You're what-fifteen? Gods are supposed to claim you when you're thirteen. That was the deal."**

**"The deal?"**

**"They made a promise last summer...well, long story... but they promised not to ignore their demigod children anymore,**

Leo rolled his eyes, thinking about the closing of Olympus. _Some deal._

** to claim them by the time they turn thirteen. Sometimes it takes a little longer, but you saw how fast Leo was claimed once he got here.**

_I'm not even in the chapter and I **still** manage to get mentioned. _Leo sighed with mild annoyance, his index finger drawing circles on his leg.

**Should happen for you soon. Tonight at the campfire, I bet we'll get a sign."**

**Piper wondered if she'd have a big flaming hammer over her head, or with her luck, something even more embarrassing. A flaming wombat, maybe.**

Everyone laughed.

**Whoever her mother was, Piper had no reason to think she'd be proud to claim a kleptomaniac daughter with massive problems.****  
**

"I'm sure that's not true." Aphrodite said with a knowing smile.

Hestia nodded in agreement. "I think it's the opposite, really."

"I know I would!" Hermes said happily.

**"Why thirteen?"**

**"The older you get," Annabeth said, "the more monsters notice you, try to kill you. 'Round thirteen is usually when it starts. That's why we send protectors into the schools to find you guys, get you to camp before it's too late."**

**"Like Coach Hedge?" **

**Annabeth nodded. "He's-he was a satyr: half man, half goat. Satyrs work for the camp, finding demigods, protecting them, bringing them in when them in when the time is right."**

**Piper had no trouble believing Coach Hedge was half goat. She'd seen the guy eat.**

"If he eats anything like Grover, I'd think I understand." Percy joked.

Annabeth and Thalia laughed.

**She'd never liked the coach much, but she couldn't believe he'd sacrificed himself to save them.**

_More like he sacrificed himself to save **me** _Leo thought.

**"What happened to him?" she asked "When we went up into the clouds, did he...is he gone for good?"**

_Thank gods he wasn't. _Leo didn't know how he would live with himself if he was responsible for _another_ death.

**"Hard to say." Annabeth's expression was pained. "Storm spirits...difficult to battle. Even our best weapons, Celestial bronze, will pass right through them unless you can catch them by surprise."**

**"Jason's sword just turned them to dust," Piper remembered.**

Connor wiggled his eyebrows at scowling Clarisse.

**"He was lucky then. If you hit a monster just right, you can dissolve them, send their essence back to Tartarus."**

**"Tartarus."**

**"A huge abyss in the Underworld, where the worst monsters come from. Kind of like a bottomless pit of evil."**

**Anyway, once monsters dissolve, it usually takes months, even years before they can reform again.**

**But since this storm spirit Dylan got away-well, I don't know why he'd keep Hedge alive.**

A couple people winced at that.

**Hedge was a protector, though. He knew the risks. Satyrs don't have mortal souls. He'll be reincarnated as a tree or a flower or something."**

Leo tilted his head, deep in thought. He could see Coach Hedge more as a violent venus fly trap than a delicate daisy.

**Piper tried to imagine Coach Hedge as a clump of very angry pansies. **

The Stolls laughed at the mental image.

**That made her feel even worse.**

**She gazed at the cabins below, and an uneasy feeling settled over her. Hedge had died to get her safely. Her mom's cabin was down there somewhere, which meant she had brothers and sisters, more people she'd have to betray. _Do what we tell you, _the voice had said. _Or the consequences will be painful. _She tucked her hands under her arms, trying to stop them from shaking.**

Aphrodite balled her hands into fists. That voice was _really_ starting to annoy her.

**"It'll be okay," Annabeth promised. "You have friends here. We've all been through a lot of weird stuff. We know what you're going through."**

**I doubt that, Piper thought.**

**"I've been kicked out of five different schools the past five years," she said. "My dad's running out of places to put me."**

"That's actually not that bad." Percy remarked in surprise.

"Not bad?" Leo echoed, giving a odd look the son of Poseidon.

"Trust me," Percy said. "She could have had worse."

**"Only five?" Annabeth didn't sound like she was teasing. "Piper, we've all been labeled troublemakers. I ran away from home when I was seven."**

**"Seriously?"**

**"Oh, yeah. Most of us are diagnosed with attention deficit disorder or dyslexia, or both-"**

**"Leo's ADD," Piper said.**

**Right. It's because we're hardwired for battle. Restless, impulsive-we don't fit in with regular kids. You should hear how much trouble Percy-" Her face darkened.**

Like it did now.

Percy gave Annabeth's hand another squeeze.

Annabeth sent him a grateful smile.

**"Anyway, demigods had a bad rep. How'd you get in trouble?"**

**Usually when someone asked that question, Piper started a fight, or changed the subject, or caused some kind of distraction. But for some reason, she found herself telling the truth.**

**"I steal stuff," she said.**

"Hey, Dad! You were right, Piper finally embraced her kleptomania." Connor said with joy.

Travis beamed like a child on his birthday.

"I told you." Hermes said with a smile. "It was a only matter of time before it happened."

**"Well, not really steal..."**

Hermes, Connor, and Travis visibly deflated at the once again denial.

**"Is your family poor?"**

**Piper laughed bitterly. "Not even. I did it... I don't know why. For**-"

"The adrenaline rush?" Smiling Travis interrupted.

"That warm fuzzy feeling you get, when you steal something and know you'll never get caught?" Hermes asked, sighing fondly, ignoring the pointed glare from Hera.

"The bragging rights?" Connor asked with a smirk.

"No!" Katie said, glaring at the Stolls.

"**attention,**"

"Oh." Travis simply said.

"Same thing." Connor added dismissively.

Hermes shrugged, he liked his reason better, but attention was good too.

**My dad never had time for me unless I got in trouble."**

Aphrodite frowned at that.

**Annabeth nodded. "I can relate. But you said you didn't really steal? What do you mean?"**

**"Well... nobody ever believes me. The police, teachers-even the people I took stuff from: they're so embarrassed, they'll deny what happened. But the truth is, I don't steal anything. I just ask people for things. And they give me stuff.**

Drew, smearing lipstick on her lips, paused.

_It sounds like she has... _Drew snorted and shook her head. _No, there is no way in Hades is Piper related to me. That's like saying a child of Athena has a bellybutton, it can't be true. Piper's just lying to make herself look less guilty._

With a satisfied smile, Drew admired herself in the small handheld mirror.

**Even a BMW convertible. I just asked. And the dealer said, 'Sure. Take it.' Later, he realized what he'd done, I guess. Then the police came after me."**

**Piper waited. She was used to people calling her a liar, but when she looked up, Annabeth just nodded.**

**"Interesting. If your dad were the god, I'd say you're a child of Hermes, god of thieves. He can be pretty convincing. But your dad is mortal..."**

**"Very," Piper agreed. **

**Annabeth shook her head, apparently mystified. "I don't know, then. With luck, your mom will claim you tonight."**

_You can count on it. _Aphrodite silently swore.

**Piper almost hoped it wouldn't happen. If her mom were a goddess, would she know about that dream? Would she know what Piper had been asked to do?**

_Well maybe not before, but she does now. _Leo spared a glance at the goddess of love, fidgeting in his current position.

**Piper wondered if Olympian gods ever blasted their kids with lightning for being evil, grounded them in the Underworld.**

Hades smirked. He had no idea about Poseidon and Zeus, but he had no problems grounding his son or his nephew, Percy Jackson, in the Underworld.

Percy shuddered in memory of Hades' dungeons. Percy didn't envy Nico if he ever got grounded by his father.

**Annabeth was studying her. Piper decided she was going to have to have to be careful what she said from now on. Annabeth was obviously pretty smart. If anyone could figure out Piper's secret...**

**"Come on," Annabeth said at last. "There's something else I need to check."**

**They hiked a little farther until they reached a cave near the top of the hill. Bones and old swords littered the ground. Torches flanked the entrance, which was covered in a velvet curtain embroidered with snakes. It looked like set for some kind of twisted puppet show.**

"That's new." said Percy stating the obvious.

"Who do you think it's for?" Thalia asked.

Nobody responded.

Leo eyed his abandoned car, before glancing at Zeus.

**"What's in there?" Piper asked.**

**Annabeth poked her head inside, then sighed and closed the curtains. "Nothing, right now. A friend's place. I've been expecting her for a few days, but so far, nothing."**

"What kind of friend do you have that lives in a cave, Annabeth? Batman?" Travis joked.

**"Your friend lives in a cave?" **

**Annabeth almost managed a smile. "Actually, her family has a luxury condo in Queens, and she goes to a finishing school in Connecticut. But when she's here at camp, yeah, she lives in the cave.**

Percy frowned. That sounded a lot like Rachel, but what would Rachel be doing living in a cave?

**She's our oracle, tells the future. I was hoping she could help me-**

**"Find Percy," Piper guessed.**

Apollo gave the book a confused look. Although he was happy his mummy was finally out of the attic, he wondered why Annabeth would call the corpse her friend.

_Maybe the curse has finally been lifted. _Apollo smiled at the thought, hoping it was true.

**All the energy drained out of Annabeth, like she'd been holding it together for as long as she could. She sat down on a rock, and her expression was so full of pain, Piper felt like a voyeur.**

Some people sent Annabeth pitying looks, but stopped when she glared at them. She didn't want or need their pity.

Percy looked around to make sure nobody (especially Athena) was looking at him, before giving Annabeth a quick peck on the cheek.

Annabeth smiled widely, she felt as if the world was lifted off her shoulders (and she knew how _that_ felt).

**She forced herself to look away. Her eyes drifted to the crest of the hill, where a single pine tree dominated the skyline. Something glittered in its lowest branch-like a fuzzy gold bath mat.**

Thalia huffed, while everyone else laughed.

"That fuzzy gold 'bath mat' saved my life."

**Then she noticed the base of the tree. At first she thought it was a pile of massive purple cables.**

"I think the mist was still affecting her mind when she saw that." Annabeth stated.

**But the cables became reptilian scales, clawed feet, and a snakelike head with yellow eyes and smoking nostrils.**

Leo smiled. The dragon sounded cool, but he was nowhere near as awesome as Festus.

**"That's-a dragon," she stammered. "That's the actual Golden Fleece?"**

**Annabeth nodded, but it was clear she wasn't really listening. Her shoulder dropped.**

**She rubbed her her face and took a shaky breath. "Sorry. A little tired." **

**"You look ready to drop," Piper said. "How long have you been searching for your boyfriend?"**

**"Three days, six hours, and about twelve minutes.**

"Wow, Annabeth." Katie said. "That's some dedication."

Percy gave her a worried glance, wondering if she slept at all during that time.

**"And you've got no idea what happened to him?"**

**Annabeth shook her head miserably. "We were so excited because we both started winter break early. We met up at camp on ****Tuesday, figured we had three weeks together. It was going to be great. Then after the campfire, he-he kissed me good night, went back to his cabin, and in the morning, he was gone.**

**We searched the whole camp. We contacted his mom.**

Percy grimaced at the thought of his mom's face when she heard her baby boy had gone missing.

**Piper was thinking: Three days ago. The same night she'd had her dream.**

"I think that dream is somehow connected to Percy's disappearance." Katie said.

Leo looked at his car before glancing back at Zeus.

**"How long were you guys together?"**

**"Since August," Annabeth said. "August eighteenth."**

**"Almost exactly when I met Jason," Piper said. "But we're only been together a few weeks."**

**Annabeth winced. "Piper... about that. Maybe you should sit down."**

Aphrodite frowned not liking the sound.

**Piper knew where this was going. Panic started building inside her, like her lungs were filling with water. "Look, I know Jason thought-he thought he just appeared at our school today. But that's not true. I've known him for four months."**

**"Piper," Annabeth said sadly. "It's the Mist."**

Aphrodite gasped.

_Poor Piper, she'll be crushed._

**"Missed...what?"**

**"M-i-s-t. It's a kind of veil separating the mortal world from the magic world. Mortal minds-they can't process strange stuff like gods and monsters, so the Mist bends reality. It makes mortals see things in a way they can understand-like their eyes might just skip over this valley completely, or they might look at that dragon and see a pile of cables."**

**Piper swallowed. "No. You said yourself I'm not regular mortal. I'm a demigod."**

**"Even demigods can be affected. I've seen it lots of times. Monsters infiltrate some place like a school, pass themselves off as human, and everything thinks they remember that person. They believe he's always been around. The Mist can change memories even create memories of things that never happened-"**

**"But Jason's not a monster!" Piper insisted. "He's a human guy, or demigod, or whatever you want to call him. My memories aren't fake They're so real. The time we set Coach Hedge's pants on fire. The time Jason and I watched a meteor shower on the dorm roof and I finally got the stupid guy to kiss me..."**

**She found herself rambling, telling Annabeth about her whole semester at Wilderness School. She'd liked Jason from the first week they'd met. He was so nice to her, and so patient, he could even put up with hyperactive Leo and his stupid jokes.**

"I would love to know how he does it." Thalia muttered, when fidgeting Leo accidentally shouldered Connor.

**He'd accepted her for herself and didn't judge her because of the stupid things she'd done. They'd spent hours talking, looking at the stars, and eventually-finally-holding hands. All that couldn't be fake.**

Aphrodite scowled.

Balling her hands into fists, she silently swore on the River of Styx that she will make Piper and Jason a couple no matter how many hearts she broke to do it.

Everyone else in the throne room looked around in surprise when thunder rumbled overhead.

Aphrodite leaned back in her throne and smiled.

The deal was made.

**Annabeth pursed her lips. "Piper, your memories are a lot sharper than most. I'll admit that, and I don't know why that is. But if you know so well-"**

**"I do!"**

**"Then where is he from?"**

**Piper felt like she'd been hit between the eyes. "He must have told me, but-"**

**"Did you ever notice his tattoo before today? Did he ever tell you anything about his parents, or friends, or his last school?"**

**"I-I don't know, but-"**

**"Piper, what's his last name?"**

**Her mind went blank. She didn't know Jason's last name. How could that be?**

**She started to cry. **

Leo couldn't help but feel grateful that Piper wasn't here. She would've died if she found out people were reading about this.

**She felt like a total fool, but she sat down on the rock next to Annabeth and just fell to pieces. It was too much. Did everything that was good in her stupid, miserable life have taken away?**

_Not everything. _Aphrodite said with determination.

**_Yes, _the dream had told her. _Yes, unless you do exactly what we say._**

**"Hey," Annabeth said. "We'll figure it out. Jason's here now. Who knows? Maybe it'll work out with you guys for real."**

Annabeth silently hoped she was right.

**Not likely, Piper thought. Not if the dream had told her the truth. But she couldn't say that.**

**She brushed a tear from her cheek. "You brought me up here so no one would see me blubbering, huh?"**

**Annabeth shrugged. "I figured it would be hard for you. I know what it's like to lose your boyfriend."**

**"But I still can't believe...I know we had something. And now it's just gone, like he doesn't even recognize me. If he really did just show today, then why? How'd he get there? Why can't he remember anything?"**

** "Good question," Annabeth said. "Hopefully Chiron can figure that out. But for now, we need to get you settled. You ready to go back down?"**

**Piper gazed at the crazy assortment of cabins in the valley. Her new home, a family who supposedly understood her-but soon they'd be just another bunch of people she'd disappointed, just another place she'd been kicked out of. _You'll betray them for us, _the voice had warned. _Or you'll lose everything._**

**She didn't have a choice.**

"You always have a choice." Percy muttered, hoping Piper would soon realize she was wrong.

**"Yeah," she lied. "I'm ready."**

**On the central green, a group of campers was playing basketball. They were incredible shots. Nothing bounced off the rim. The pointers went in automatically.**

"That's obviously my cabin!" Apollo stated with a bright smile. "Only children of the god of awesome could do that."

**"Apollo's cabin," **

Apollo's smile grew. He wiggled his eyebrows at his sister who rolled her eyes.

**Annabeth explained. "Bunch of showoffs with missile weapons-arrows, basketballs." **

"The apple doesn't fall far from the tree." Artemis muttered.

**They walked past a central fire pit, where two guys were hacking each other with swords.**

**"Real blades?" Piper noted. "Isn't that dangerous?"**

**"That's sort of the point," **

A few people, even Annabeth, winced.

_Maybe the Stoll's are right..._ Annabeth pondered._ Maybe I do hang out with Percy too much..._

Annabeth snorted and shook her head.

_Nah!_

**Annabeth said. "Uh, sorry. Bad pun. That's my cabin over there. Number Six." She nodded to a gray building with a carved owl over the door.**

Athena, if possible, straightened proudly in her throne.

**Through the open doorway, Piper could see bookshelves, weapon displays, and one of those computerized SMART Boards they have in classrooms. Two girls were drawing a map that looked like a battle diagram.**

**"Speaking of blades," Annabeth said, "come here."**

**She led Piper around the side of the cabin, to a big metal shed that looked like it was meant for gardening tools. Annabeth unlocked it, and inside were not gardening tools, unless you wanted to make war on your tomato plants.**

Demeter gasped in horror.

Katie rolled her eyes at her mother's reaction.

**The shed was lined with all sorts of weapons-from swords to spears to clubs like Coach Hedge's. **

**"Every demigod needs a weapon," Annabeth said. "Hephaestus makes the best, **

The faintest of smiles appeared on the god's ugly face.

**but we have a pretty good selection, too. Athena's all about strategy-matching the right weapon to the right person. Let's see..."**

**Piper didn't feel much like shopping for deadly objects, but she knew Annabeth was trying to do something nice for her.**

**Annabeth handed her a massive sword, which Piper could hardly lift.**

**"No," they both said at once.**

**Annabeth rummaged a little farther in the shed and brought out something else.**

**"A shotgun?" Piper asked.**

**"Mossberg 500." Annabeth checked the pump action like it was no big deal. **

"Only Annabeth." Percy said fondly.

Annabeth flashed him a smile before bumping their shoulders.

**"Don't worry. It doesn't hurt humans. It's modified to shoot Celestial bronze, so it only kills monsters.**

Leo tentatively gave his car a small push.

_Eek._

Leo immediately looked up at Zeus, relieved when he saw no reaction.

**"Um, I don't think that's my style," Piper said.**

**"Mmm, yeah," Annabeth agreed. "Too flashy."**

**She put the shotgun back and started poking through a rack of crossbows when something in the corner of the shed caught Piper's eye.**

**"What is that?" she said. "A knife?" **

**Annabeth dug it out and blew the dust off the scabbard. It looked like it hadn't seen the light of day in centuries.**

**"I don't know, Piper." Annabeth sounded uneasy. "I don't think you want this one. Swords are usually better."**

"That's ironic coming from you." Smiling Thalia said to Annabeth.

Leo, still hesitant, gave his car another tiny push.

_Eek._

The king of all gods made no action that revealed his annoyance.

**"You use a knife." Piper pointed to the one strapped to Annabeth's belt.**

Thinking of Luke, Annabeth smiled sadly at the mention of her knife.

**"Yeah, but..." Annabeth shrugged. "Well, take a look if you want."**

**The sheath was worn black leather, in bound in bronze. Nothing fancy, nothing flashy. The polished wood handle fit beautifully in Piper's hand.**

**When she unsheathed it, she found a triangular blade eighteen inches long-bronze gleaming like it had been polished yesterday. The edges were deadly sharp. Her reflection in the blade in the blade caught her by surprise. She looked older, more serious, not as scared as she felt.**

**"It suits you," Annabeth admitted. "That kind of blade is called a parazonium. It was ceremonial, carried by high-ranking officers in Greek armies. It showed you were a person of power and wealth, but in a fight, it could protect you just fine." **

Aphrodite nodded her head in approval.

**"I like it," Piper said. "Why didn't you think it was right?"**

**Annabeth exhaled. "That blade has a long story. Most people would be afraid to claim it. Its first owner... well, things didn't turn out too well for her. Her name was Helen."**

**Piper let that sink in. "Wait, you mean_ the_ Helen? Helen of Troy?"**

Hera sent a venomous glare in Zeus' direction at the mention of yet _another _child of Zeus.

**Annabeth nodded.**

**Suddenly Piper felt like she should be handling the dagger with surgical gloves. "And it's just sitting in your toolshed?"**

**"We're surrounded by Ancient Greek stuff," Annabeth said. "This isn't a museum. Weapon like that-they're meant to be used. They're our heritage as demigods. That was a wedding present from Menelaus, Helen's first husband **

Aphrodite crinkled her nose at the mention of Menelaus. She was more of a Paris/Helen shipper.

**She named the dagger Katoptris."**

**"Meaning?"**

**"Mirror," Annabeth said. "Looking glass. Probably because that's the only thing Helen used it for. I don't think it was ever seen in battle." **

**Piper looked at the blade again. For a moment, her own image stared up at her, but then the reflection changed. She saw flames, and a grotesque face like something carved from bedrock. She heard the same laughter as in her dream. She saw her dad in chains, tied to a post in front of a roaring bonfire.**

Annabeth shuddered. Despite her and her father's rocky relationship, she still loved him. She couldn't imagine how she would react to seeing that.

"That's horrible!" Hestia said.

Aphrodite worriedly wrung the side of her dress.

**She dropped the blade.**

**"Piper?" Annabeth shouted to Apollo kids on the court, "Medic! I need some help over here!"**

**"No, it's-it's okay," Piper managed.**

**"You sure?"**

**"Yeah. I just..." She had to control herself. With trembling fingers, she picked up the dagger. "I just got overwhelmed. So much happening today. But... I want to keep the dagger, if that's okay."**

**Annabeth hesitated. Then she waved off the Apollo kids. "Okay, if you're sure. You turned really pale, there. I thought you were having a seizure or something.**

**"I'm fine," Piper promised,**

However it did little effect on the concerned goddess of love.

**though her heart was still racing. "Is there... um, a phone at camp? Can I call my dad?"**

**Annabeth's grey eyes were almost as unnerving as the dagger blade. She seemed to be calculating a million possibilities, trying to read Piper's thoughts.**

Leo shuddered at the memory of the angry grey eyes.

"And I wouldn't want them any other way." Percy muttered to his girlfriend.

Annabeth gave him a peck on the cheek before turning her attention back to the book.

Nico, who saw this, gnashed his teeth.

**"We aren't allowed phones," she said. "Most demigods, if they use a cell phone, it's like sending up a ****signal, letting monsters know where you are. But... I've got one."**

Athena looked at Annabeth in shock.

_Does she realize how dangerous that is?_ Athena asked. She knew the answer, of course. She just hoped Annabeth had gotten a phone in order to remain having contact with her father, and not to call Percy's house._  
_

**She slipped it out of her pocket. "Kind of against the rules, but if it can be our secret..." Piper took it gratefully, trying not to let her hands shake. She stepped away from Annabeth and turned to face the commons area.**

Leo gave his car another push.

_Eeek. Eeek._

Leo cried out in surprise when a bolt of lightening viciously attacked the little car, reducing it to a pile of ash.

Leo looked back at Zeus.

Zeus' face showed no emotion, with the exception of a small triumphant grin.

Poseidon rolled his eyes at his brother's childish antics.

**She called her dad's private line, even though she knew what would happen. Voice mail. She'd been trying for three days, ever since the dream. Wilderness School only allowed phone privileges once a day, but she'd called every evening, and gotten nowhere.**

**Reluctantly she dialed the other number. Her dad's personal assistant answered immediately. "Mr. McLean's office."**

**"Jane," Piper said, gritting her teeth. "Where's my dad?"**

**Jane was silent for a moment, probably wondering if she could get away with hanging up.**

Percy frowned. This Jane character was beginning to remind him of a certain Ugliano statue.

**"Piper, I thought you weren't supposed to call from school."**

**"Maybe I'm not at school," Piper said. "Maybe I ran away to live among the woodland creatures."**

Everyone laughed.

**"Mmm." Jane didn't sound concerned. "Well, I'll tell him you called."**

**"Where is he?"**

**"Out."**

**"You don't know, do you?" Piper lowered her voice, hoping Annabeth was too nice to eavesdrop.**

**"Piper, we are not going to turn this into a media circus. I'm sure he's fine. He does take off occasionally. He always comes back."**

**"So it's true. You don't know-"**

**"I have to go, Piper," Jane snapped. "Enjoy school."**

**The line went dead.**

Percy scowled.

_What a Hera move. _Thalia thought, crossing her arms.

**Piper cursed. She walked back to Annabeth and handed her the phone.**

**"No luck?" Annabeth asked.**

**Piper didn't answer. She didn't trust herself not to start crying again.**

**Annabeth glanced at the phone display and hesitated. **

**"Your last name is McLean? Sorry, it's not my business. But sounds really familiar."**

"It does sound familiar now that I think about it." Annabeth said, wondering where had she heard of it before.

**"Common name."**

**"Yeah, I guess. What does your dad do?"  
**  
**"He's got a degree in the arts," Piper said automatically. "He's a Cherokee artist."**

**Her standard response. Not a lie, just not the whole truth. Most people, when they heard that, figured her dad sold Indian souvenirs at a roadside stand on a reservation. Sitting Bull bobble-heads, wampum necklaces, Big Chief tablets-that kind of thing.**

**"Oh." Annabeth didn't look convinced, but she put the phone away.**

**"You feeling okay? Want to keep going?"**

**Piper fastened her new dagger to her belt and promised herself that later, when she was alone, she'd figure out how it worked. "Sure," she said. "I want to see everything."**

**All the cabins were cool, but none of them struck Piper as hers. No burning signs-wombats or otherwise-appeared over her head.**

**Cabin Eight was entirely silver and glowed like moonlight.**

**"Artemis?" Piper guessed.**

**"You know Greek mythology," Annabeth said.**

**"I did some reading when my dad was working on a project last year."**

**"I thought he did Cherokee art."**

**Piper bit back a curse. "Oh, right. But-you know, he does other stuff too."**

**Piper thought she'd blown it: McLean, Greek mythology.**

"Oh!" Connor exclaimed, nudging his brother.

Travis gave him a confused look.

"You know who her dad is?" he asked skeptically.

Connor rolled his eyes.

"Duh, it's obvious." Connor said before whispering. "Remember the pirated DVD we were going to get?"

"Yeah, what about-" Travis' eyes widened. "_Ooooh_!"

"You two know who it is?" Annabeth, who still didn't know, asked. *

"Of course we do!" Travis bragged.

"Yeah!" Connor chimed in. "It's not rocket science."

"How could you know before Annabeth?" asked shocked Chris.

"I don't know," Smirking Travis shrugged. "Maybe she's thinking about it to hard."

Annabeth scowled.

**Thankfully, Annabeth didn't seem to make the connection.**

Annoyed Annabeth thought long and hard about who it could be, but couldn't connect the dots. *

**"Anyway," Annabeth continued, "Artemis is goddess of the moon, goddess of hunting. But no campers. Artemis was an eternal maiden, so she doesn't have any kids."**

**"Oh." That kind of bummed Piper out. She'd always liked the stories of Artemis, and figured she would make a cool mom.**

Artemis smiled at that.

Aphrodite, crossing her arms, felt a stab of jealousy.

**"Well, there _are_ the Hunters of Artemis," Annabeth amended. "They visit sometimes. They're not the children of Artemis, but they're her handmaidens-this band of immortal teenage girls who adventure together and hunt monsters and stuff."**

**Piper perked up. "That sounds cool. They get to be immortal?"**

"Yes, but at a terrible price." Aphrodite said darkly.

**"Unless they die in combat, or break their vows. Did I mention they swear off boys? No dating-ever. For eternity."**

"It's worth it." Phoebe stated, other hunters nodded in agreement.

"It was the best decision I ever made." Thalia added.

Artemis happily beamed at her hunters, while Aphrodite looked sympathetically at the young girls.

_Poor girls will never experience their first kiss._

**"Oh," Piper said. "Never mind."**

Aphrodite nodded her head in approval. No daughter of hers will ever throw away their lives and join a all girls club for eternity. They knew better than that.

**Annabeth laughed. For a moment she looked almost happy, and Piper thought she'd be a cool friend to hang out with in better times.**

Annabeth smiled at that. Piper was pretty cool too.

**Forget it, Piper reminded herself. You're not going to make any friends here. Not once they find out.**

**They passed the next cabin, Number Ten, which was decorated like a Barbie house with lace curtains, a pink door, and potted carnations in the windows. They walked by the doorway, and the smell of perfume almost made Piper gag.**

**"Gah, is that where supermodels go to die?"**

Artemis and her hunters laughed, ignoring the heated glare from Drew.

**Annabeth smirked. "Aphrodite's cabin. Goddess of love. Drew's the head counselor."**

**"Figures," Piper grumbled.**

Aphrodite frowned.

"What's _that _supposed to mean?" Drew said, glaring daggers at the book.

**"They're not all bad," Annabeth said. "The last head counselor was great."**

Drew snorted and rolled her eyes.

Aphrodite gave Annabeth a grateful look.

A couple people nodded their heads in agreement.

**"What happened to her?"**

**Annabeth's expression darkened. "We should keep moving."**

**They looked at other cabins, but Piper just got more depressed. She wondered if she could be the daughter of Demeter, the farming goddess. Then again, Piper killed every plant she ever touched.**

"Definitely not mine." Demeter said with a huff.

**Athena was cool.**

Aphrodite scowled, feeling another jab by the green eyed monster. She was cool too!

**Or maybe Hecate, the magic goddess.**

**But it didn't really matter. Even here, where everyone was supposed to find a lost parent, she knew she would still end up the unwanted kid. She was not looking forward to the campfire tonight.**

**"We started with the twelve Olympian gods," Annabeth explained. "Male gods on the left, female on the right. Then last year, we added a whole bunch of new cabins for the other gods who didn't have thrones on Olympus-Hecate, Hades, Iris-"**

**"What are the two big ones on the end?" Piper asked.**

**Annabeth frowned. "Zeus and Hera. King and queen of the gods."**

**Piper headed that way, and Annabeth followed, though she didn't act very excited. The Zeus cabin reminded Piper of a bank.**

_It's as comfortable as one too._ Thalia thought with a frown. The giant statue of her father didn't help make it more cozy either.

**It was white marble with big columns out front and polished bronze doors emblazoned with lightning bolts.**

**Hera's cabin was smaller but done in the same style, except the doors were carved with peacock feather designs, shimmering in different colors.**

**Unlike the other cabins, which were all noisy and open and full of activity, the Zeus and Hera cabins looked closed and silent.**

"As it should be." Hera sighed with content. _If only that pact actually worked._

**"Are they empty?" Piper asked.**

**Annabeth nodded. "Zeus went a long time without having any children. Well, mostly. Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades, the eldest brothers among the gods-they're called the Big Three. Their kids are really powerful, really dangerous. For the last seventy years or so, they tried to avoid having demigod children."**

**"Tried to avoid it?"**

**"Sometimes they...um, cheated.**

"**I** cheated." Hades corrected. "**_They_**," the god of the Underworld jerked his thumb to his brothers. "completely broke the pact between us."

Poseidon sheepishly smiled, while Zeus huffed.

Leo fidgeted.

_If I have to wait any longer, I swear... _he trailed off.

Leo looked at Katie and willed her to read faster.

**I've got a friend, Thalia Grace, who's the daughter of Zeus. But she gave up camp life and became a Hunter of Artemis. My boyfriend, Percy, he's a son of Poseidon. And there's a kid who shows up sometimes, Nico-son of Hades. Except for them, there are no demigod children of Big Three gods. At least, not that we know of."**

Thalia, Leo, and Zeus instantly thought of Jason.

**"And Hera?"**

Hera laughed.

"I would **_never ever _**stoop so low as cheating my husband." she sent a meaningful glare in Zeus' direction.

**Piper looked at the peacock decorated doors. The cabin bothered her, though she wasn't sure why.**

**"Goddess of marriage." Annabeth's tone was carefully controlled, like she was trying to avoid cursing.**

**"She doesn't have kids with anyone but Zeus. So, yeah, no demigods. The cabin's just honorary."**

**"You don't like her," Piper noticed**.

**"We have a long history," Annabeth admitted.**

_Bet my long history is longer than hers. _Leo thought with a strained smile. His twitching hands temporarily occupied themselves by fiddling with his jacket's buttons.

**"I thought we'd made peace, but when Percy disappeared... I got this weird dream vision from her."**

Annabeth looked shocked. Out of all the people, she never thought Hera would help her.

"Maybe Hera had something to do with Percy's disappearance." Thalia suggested, not believing for a second Hera was helping from the goodness of her heart.

**"Telling you to come get us." Piper said. "But you thought Percy would be there."**

**"It's probably better I don't talk about it," Annabeth said. "I've got nothing good to say about Hera right now."**

_Since when have I ever?_ Annabeth silently asked.

**Piper looked down at the base of the doors. "So who goes in here?"**

**"No one. The cabin is just honorary, like I said. No one goes in."**

**"Someone does." Piper pointed at a footprint on the dusty threshold. On instinct, she pushed the doors and they swung open easily.**

**Annabeth stepped back. "Um, Piper, I don't think we should-"**

**"We're supposed to do dangerous stuff, right?" ****And Piper walked inside.**

**Hera's cabin was not someplace Piper would want to live. It was cold as a freezer, with a circle of white columns around a central statue of the goddess, ten feet tall, seated on the throne in the flowing golden robes. Piper had always thought of Greek statues as white with blank eyes, but this one was brightly painted so it looked almost human-except huge. Hera's piercing eyes seemed to follow Piper.**

**A stone hawk sat on Hera's shoulder, and in her hand was a staff topped with a lotus flower. The goddess's hair was done in black plaits. Her face smiled, but the eyes were cold and calculating, as if she were saying: _Mother knows best. Now don't cross me or I will have to step on you._**

"Sounds like the real Hera." Annabeth whispered to Percy.

**There was nothing else in the cabin-no beds, no furniture, no bathroom, no windows, nothing that anyone could actually use to live. For a goddess of home and marriage, Hera's place reminded Piper of a tomb.**

Hera huffed at that.

**No, this wasn't her mom. At least Piper was sure of that. She hadn't come in here because she felt a good connection, but because her sense of dread was stronger here. Her dream-that horrible ultimatum she'd been handed-had to do with this cabin.**

**She froze. They weren't alone. Behind the statue, at a little altar in the back, stood a figure covered in a black shawl. Only her hands were visible, palms up. She seemed to be chanting something like a spell or a prayer.**

**Annabeth gasped. "Rachel?"**

Annabeth raised a eyebrow in surprise. _Rachel's the Oracle?_

**The other girl turned. She dropped her shawl, revealing a mane of curly red hair and freckled face that didn't go with the seriousness of the cabin or the black shawl at all.**

**She looked about seventeen, a totally normal teen in a green blouse and tattered jeans covered with marker doodles. Despite the cold floor, she was barefoot.**

**"Hey!" She ran to give Annabeth a hug. "I'm so sorry! I came as fast as I could."**

**They talked for a few minutes about Annabeth's boyfriend and how there was no news, etcetera, until finally Annabeth remembered Piper, who was standing there feeling uncomfortable.**

**"I'm being rude," Annabeth apologized. "Rachel, this is Piper, one of the half-bloods we rescued today. Piper, this is Rachel Elizabeth Dare, our oracle."**

"Yes! We finally got rid of that creepy mummy!" Connor cheered high-fiving his brother.

Percy sighed with relief, also glad the mummy was long gone. A fortune-telling corpse was definitely not something he wanted to meet before going on another deadly quest.

Apollo beamed.

"All right! I got a new Oracle!"

**Rachel grinned. "That's me."**

**"So you're an oracle?" Piper asked. "You can tell the future?"**

**"More like the future mugs me from time to time," Rachel said. "I speak prophecies. The oracle's spirit kind of hijacks me every once in a while and speaks important stuff that doesn't make any sense to anybody. But yeah, the prophecies tell the future."**

"I like this Oracle!" Travis admitted with a laugh.

Leo impatiently tapped his shoe.

**"Oh." Piper shifted from foot to foot. "That's cool."**

**Rachel laughed. "Don't worry. Everybody finds it a little creepy. Even me. But usually I'm harmless."**

**"You're a demigod?"**

**"Nope," Rachel said. "Just mortal."**

**"Then what are you..." Piper waved her hand around the room.**

**Rachel's smile faded. She glanced at Annabeth, then back at Piper. "Just a hunch. Something about this cabin and Percy's disappearance. They're connected somehow. **

Thalia nodded. _I knew it._

Annabeth and Poseidon narrowed their eyes in suspicion at Hera.

Hera glared back at the demigod, silently daring her to voice her accusations.

**I've learned to follow my hunches, especially the last month, since the gods went silent."**

"What!" the demigods exclaimed in surprise.

"You all swore on the River of Styx not to ignore your children!" Furious Percy exclaimed.

"Actually," Zeus began. "we promised to _claim_ all our children. We didn't promise to be attached to the hip with them. Believe it or not, Percy Jackson, but as gods we are constantly busy. We can't always be there for our children."

"Busy doing what?" Percy muttered. "Whoring yourself out to humans?"

Luckily, Zeus did not hear him.

Leo drew a small island with a dancing hula girl on Grover's chin.

"Food..." Grover groaned, abruptly turned his face, ruining the already horrible looking picture.

**Rachel frowned at Annabeth. "You haven't told her yet?"**

**"I was getting to that," Annabeth said. "Piper, for the last month... well, it's normal for the gods not to talk to their children very much, but usually we can count on some messages now and then. Some of us can even visit Olympus. I spent practically all semester at the Empire State Building."**

**"Excuse me?"**

**"The entrance to Mount Olympus these days."**

**"Oh," Piper said. "Sure, why not?"**

**"Annabeth was redesigning Olympus after it was damaged in the Titan War," Rachel explained. "She's an amazing architect. You should see the salad bar-"**

Normally Annabeth would have been ecstatic hearing this, however, she was more focused about why the gods went silent.

With a frown, Athena crossed her arms. If they suddenly went silent, something life threatening to even immortals, such as themselves, must be happening.

_Either that, or Father is still angry about Percy's refusal._

Athena sighed, hoping it was the second idea. With a lot of persuasion, she could convince her father to end their silence.

**"Anyway," Annabeth said, "starting about a month ago, Olympus fell silent. The entrance closed, and no one could get in. Nobody knows why. It's like the gods have sealed themselves off. Even my mom won't answer my prayers, and our camp director, Dionysus, was recalled."**

"Well," Dionysus said with a smile. "At least some good came out of the situation."

**"Your camp director was the god of... wine?"**

**"Yeah, it's a-"**

**"Long story," Piper guessed. "Right. Go on."**

**"That's it, really," Annabeth said. "Demigods still get claimed, but nothing else. No messages. No visits. No sign the gods are even listening. It's like something has happened-something really bad. Then Percy disappeared."**

**"And Jason showed up on our field trip," Piper supplied. "With no memory."**

**"Who's Jason?" Rachel asked.**

**"My-" Piper stopped herself before she could say "boyfriend", but the effort made her chest hurt. "My friend. But Annabeth, you said Hera sent you a dream vision."**

**"Right," Annabeth said. "The first communication from a god in a month, and it's Hera, the least helpful goddess,**

Hera made a mental note to have a few cows leave some... 'surprises' for Annabeth later.

** and she contacts me, her least favorite demigod. She tells me I'll find out what happened to Percy if I go to the Grand Canyon skywalk and look for a guy with one shoe. Instead, I find you guys, and the guy with one shoe is Jason. It doesn't make sense."**

**Something bad is happening," Rachel agreed. She looked at Piper, and Piper felt an overwhelming desire to tell them about her dream, to confess that she knew what was happening-at least part of the story. And the bad stuff was only beginning.**

_Please do. _Aphrodite silently pleaded.

**"Guys," she said. **

Aphrodite sighed with relief, happy that Piper will tell the girls about her dream.

_Hopefully they'll find a way to save Tristan._

**"I-I need to-"**

**Before she could continue, Rachel's body stiffened. **

_Seriously! The Oracle picks now to speak a prophecy!_ Aphrodite scowled.

**Her eyes began to glow with a greenish light, and she grabbed Piper by the shoulders.**

**Piper tried to back away, but Rachel's hands were like steel clamps.**

**_Free me, _she said. But it wasn't Rachel's voice. It sounded like an older woman, speaking from somewhere far away, down a long, echoing pipe. _Free me, Piper McLean, or the earth shall swallow us. It must be by the solstice._**

_The earth shall swallow us? _Athena gasped, eyes widening, resembling owl's. _Oh no._

**The room started spinning. Annabeth tried to separate Piper from Rachel, but it was no use. Green smoke enveloped them, and Piper was no longer sure if she was awake or dreaming. The giant statue of the goddess seemed to rise from its throne. It leaned over Piper, its eyes boring into her. The statue's mouth opened, its breath like horribly thick perfume. It spoke in the same echoing voice: _Our enemies stir. The fiery one is only the first. Bow to his will, and their king shall rise, dooming us all. FREE ME!_**

"That is obviously not a prophecy." Apollo stated. "Someone has just spoke through my Oracle."

Apollo couldn't stop the fondness from being heard when he mentioned his Oracle.

"Spoke through your Oracle?" Leo repeated, he momentarily stopped scribbling on Grover's face. "You mean like a walkie talkie?"

Apollo stared at him before he chuckled.

"Well, when you put it like that...Yes."

"It has to be me." Hera said, chewing her lip. "I'm somehow trapped somewhere and am contacting Piper for help."

"Whoever kidnapped you might be the one called 'the fiery one'." Percy reported.

"They might also have something to do with Piper's dreams." Will added.

**Piper's knees buckled, and everything went black.**

"Done!" Leo reached over and closed the book on Katie's lap, purposely making her lose her place in the book.

"Hey!" Katie exclaimed.

Standing up, Leo bounced in excitement.

"It's okay Katie, we'll find our place in the book again later." Leo said cheerfully.

_Not!_

"Right now it's time for a break! I'm in the mood for some pizza, or ice cream, or a hot dog with mustard and relish!"

Truthfully, Leo was not hungry, but he had to keep up the act if he wanted his plan to work.

"Those foods are fattening!" Demeter scolded. "If you keep eating like that, you'll end up looking like rolie polie or be a constant miserable grump like_ **Hades**_."

"Persephone _loves _constant miserable grumps!" Hades snapped.

"Shut up!" Demeter snapped back.

"Anyway," Demeter huffed before casting a motherly smile in Leo's direction. "if you want to grow up and become a respectable young man, I suggest you eat cereal."

"Oh. Yeah. Sure, I love cereal." Leo said, unaware of what he got himself into.

Hades shook his head sympathetically.

Meanwhile Katie covered her blushing face with her hands. Why did she have the woman addicted to cereal for a mother?

Demeter's face lit up like a candle.

"Really?" she asked.

"Ummm..." Leo hesitated, not liking how the goddess was looking at him. "_Yeee-aaah_, I can't get enough of it."

If possible, Demeter's smile grew.

* * *

***~ Honestly, I think Annabeth is smart. But I don't think she would really a movie fanatic.**

**Questions:**

**Janus- Sorry I wasn't making it clear enough. Looking back at past chapters, I can understand telling when Leo is from could be confusing. Leo is from the timeline inbetween the House of Hades and the Blood of Olympus. Again I am deeply sorry for the confusion.**

**AN: Speaking of sorry, I am really sorry about the sudden hiatus. I had a major writer's block and I also had Mid. Terms, so most of my attention was focused on studying. I hope this chapter was worth the wait. I'd like to give a big thank you to all the reviewers and people who favorited, followed, or just viewed this story.**

**If anyone has any questions, comments, or suggestions, you are more than welcome to put them in the reviews.**

**Have a great day!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: All the words in bold and characters in this story are not mine. All rights go to Rick Riordan.**

* * *

Despite his inner Cal screaming at him to destroy the books once and for all, Leo allowed himself to be shepherded along with the others into the dinning room by the gods.

He knew if he wanted his plan to be successful, he would have to act as normal as he possibly could.

_Easier said then done. _Leo thought.

As he walked down the hall, he made sure to have every detail of the twisting and turning hallway forever burned in his mind like the tattoo branded on Jason's arm.

_I can't screw this up. _he thought with determination, momentarily stopping to look at a old vase.

If he hadn't been examining each one of the Greek pottery, he would have easily missed the black vase of the familiar goddess of revenge pointing a disapproving finger over one woman's shoulder at another chatting with Aphrodite. *

Appearently he and Narcissus were not the only lives Nemesis decided to majorly screw up.

Leo wasn't sure if how he should honestly feel about that.

He suddenly stumbled when he was pushed from behind.

"You know," Phoebe said behind him, wiping her hands furiously against her camo pants. "for someone who was is _so _hungry, you sure are taking your sweet time walking to the dining room."

Before Leo could defend himself, he felt his arm intertwine with another.

"The huntress is right, dear." Demeter cooed, dragging the demigod along with her. "You can look at the art later. Right now, let's go eat some cereal."

"But-" Leo began, struggling to regain his footing, only to land back flat on his butt.

Connor laughed at the sight.

Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a Iphone he had 'forgotten' to return to a sleeping jogger during the war** and began to snap pictures.

"Hey!" the son of Hermes protested, reaching up to take his phone back from Ares.

But he was helpless to do anything but watch in horror as the smirking god snapped it in half before handing it back to him.

"Dude! What the Hades!"

Hades glared at a oblivious Connor Stoll, who was busy mourning over the recent death of his first phone.

Watching the scene, Travis wisely kept his 'burrowed' phones in his pockets.

Looking over her shoulder, Demeter called.

"Come on, Katie."

"Huh?!" exclaimed a surprised Katie.

Demeter made a unladylike snort.

"You really didn't think I was going let you eat that **_junk_**, did you?"

"Mom, I've been eating that 'junk' for years!"

"Well it's time for a change." the goddess huffed, slowing her pace a bit so her daughter could catch up with her. Demeter also made a mental note to have a little 'chat' with Katie's father and Chiron later.

* * *

Leo resisted the strong urge to bang his head repeatedly on the table.

Katie inwardly groaned as her cheerful mother continued blabbing.

Oblivious to her bored audience, Demeter, with a dreamy look on her face, continued chatting.

"-I used to take her out into the garden and watch her play. She looked so cute when she would roll around in the grass and pick flowers. I remember once, she had given me a daisy. The daisy was wilted and missing all of its petals except one, but it was the best gift I have ever received."

Demeter sighed with bliss.

Leo stirred the almond milk in his bowl with his finger, wondering what he did to deserve this.

"Those were the good centuries." Demeter smiled.

Suddenly her sunny expression darkened.

The two teens jumped in surprise when the woman's fists hit the table.

"But then, one horrible day, I turn my back for one minute, **_only a minute_**, and my little flower was gone."

Leo scooted his chair away from her, frightened by the murderous look on Demeter's face.

"Imagine my horror, when I discovered my precious daughter was gone. Imagine my **shock**, when I discovered she was taken, no, _**abducted**_. Imagine my anger, when I discovered my child had been kidnapped, taken against her will, by **Hades**! My own brother had stolen Persephone when she was most vulnerable. You would think someone like Hermes would do that!"

"Hey!" Hermes, sitting on the other side of the room, objected. "I may be a bit klepto, but I'm not a child snatcher. No offense Uncle Hades." he added seeing the furious look being sent in his direction.

"I'm sorry Hermes, that was uncalled for." Demeter said sincerely. "I could understand your anger. I would be offended too, if I was compared to _**Hades**_!"

"And I would have sent them to the Fields of Punishment before they could even blink if anybody dared ever compared me to you." Hades said, his words full of annoyance.

"Shut up! Nobody was talking to you!" Demeter snapped before turning back to Katie and Leo.

She blinked as if she just saw them for the first time.

"Why haven't you two eaten your cereal? It's soggy now."

"Mom, I've been trying to tell you, we can't. You forgot to bring spoons for everybody but yourself."

Demeter looked down at the table and discovered Katie was right.

"Oh dear!" she exclaimed, slapping her forehead. "I'll go get them right now."

Abruptly standing up, she made a beeline to the kitchen.

Katie released a long sigh as she watched her friends at the other side of the room laugh and tell jokes.

Leo, sitting across from her at the small table, didn't bother to stop his legs from swinging back and forth.

His hand would frequently brush his hair back, as he looked over his shoulder at the hallway leading to the throne room.

"_Ouch!_" Katie exclaimed suddenly.

Rubbing her shin, she gave Leo a glare.

"Watch where you're kicking!" she scolded.

"Oh! Sorry!" Leo apologized, forcing himself to turn his attention to Katie.

"Just don't do it again." Katie warned, not noticing Travis' side way glance.

Silence fell between them.

Leo drew figure eights on the white tablecloth.

After a long period of time, Katie finally sighed.

"Look, it's okay to be nervous."

Confused by her words, Leo looked up from the table.

"What?"

"With us reading your thoughts," Katie clarified. "It's okay to feel uncomfortable with the idea of people reading into your most deepest thoughts. But, unfortunately, it's necessary."

"Yeah right. Easy for you to say." Leo said with a bitter laugh.

"No, really." Katie insisted. "Think about it. If we read this book and the other two, we might find a way to prevent the war from even starting or least prevent a lot of people from dying. I've just came out of one war, Leo. I've seen some of my siblings and closest friends die by the hands of monsters. The last thing I want to do is go into another war that can be ten times worse."

Katie reached over and squeezed Leo's twitching hand in a way that was meant for comfort.

Neither noticing Travis flat out staring at them.

"I can't say I know how you feel, because I don't. But if you ever feel you need someone to talk to, I'm willing to listen. Okay?"

Leo nodded before standing up.

"I need to use the bathroom."

Seeing the boy needed time to think, Katie released his hand and returned her gaze to her friends.

She raised a eyebrow and mouthed 'what' when she saw Travis eyeing her.

Said boy just stuck his tongue out at her before looking away.

Katie rolled her eyes.

It wasn't until Leo left down the hallway they came from, did she wonder how he knew where the bathroom was in the first place.

* * *

Leo shoved his constantly moving hands in his pockets, deep in thought about what Katie said.

If they read his thoughts, he could save lives, the war could be prevented before it even started.

He stopped walking.

He thought about his last demigod dream; Camp Half-Blood, the only place after his mother's death he called home, in ruins and the countless bodies of both Roman and Greek demigods laying in on the ground.

Could he really prevent that from happening just by sharing his most personal thoughts?

_Don't be stupid! _he scolded himself, firmly shaking his head. _Of course my thoughts wouldn't change anything. It would probably make things make things worse and ruin my chance of ever being friends with anybody besides Jason and Piper._

With that in mind, he marched into the throne room.

He scooped up the Lost Hero and two other books abandoned by Zeus' throne.

Not wanting to risk one of the gods' thrones catching on fire, he carelessly tossed the hard cover booksin the center of the room.

Whistling off key a song from his mother's favorite band, The Rolling Stones, he pulls out a glass bottle of gasoline.

After opening the bottle, he hesitated, thinking about Katie's words again.

_ I could talk about what happens in the future later, it's not like reading a stupid book would make any difference. _Leo thought, nodding to himself.

He then gently tipped the bottle to it's side and poured the liquid all over the books.

Not satisfied with the small amount on them, he turned the bottle over, soaking the books in gasoline.

Before he or anyone else could talk himself out of it, he quickly set the books on fire.

He took four steps back as the fire quickly began to spread.

Watching the books burn in the flames, a smiling Leo couldn't help but loudly exclaim.

"YES!"

He immediately covered his mouth, eyes darting around the room.

Seeing nobody, he slowly pulled his hands away from his mouth, unsure he would be able to contain his excitement.

"Phase one complete." Leo said to himself in a hushed whisper.

Smile growing wider, Leo added. "Now for Phase two."

He took no notice of the fortune cookie materializing by his shoe.

* * *

"YOU ARE SUCH A CHILD!" Katie shouted, wiping the shaving cream off the side of her mouth. She glared furiously at the laughing Stoll brothers.

"And you're such a big baby." remarked a snickering Connor, wishing he still had his phone to take a picture of her furious face. "It was just a little shaving cream, no harm done."

Red-faced Travis was to busy trying to breathe in between his laughter to comment.

"Honesty, Katie Gardener," said her disapproving mother. "I can't say you have my sympathy. If you had just eaten your cereal and had _not _eaten the Jell-O, you wouldn't have been the butt of this stupid joke. Do you have any idea how much artificial flavors are in that thing, young lady? If the shaving cream doesn't give you a stomach ache later, you'll probably suffer from food poisoning because of the Jell-O later. You are so much like Persephone! I told her not to eat that pomegranate, but did she listen me? _No_! Now she's stuck in the Underworld with-"

"Does anybody smell smoke?" asked Grover, still having the faint markings of Leo's 'masterpieces' on his face.

Silence filled the room as people stopped and sniffed the air.

"Yes," Athena said, eyes narrowed. "But where is-"

She was interrupted by a sudden loud yell.

"_OH GODS_!"

"Well, that answers that question." Percy said as everyone followed the sound of Leo's voice.

Eyes widened in shock at the sight of the growing fire and Leo Valdez frantically fanning his hands in a effort to put the hot flames out.

"SOMEBODY HELP ME PUT OUT THE FIRE!" exclaimed a 'panicked' Leo Valdez, biting back a large smile. He briefly considered taking off his shirt and smothering the fire, but immediately discarded the idea. The last thing he wanted was to _actually put out_ the fire.

"Stop, drop, and roll!" Will shouted, snapping the other boy out of his thoughts.

"What?" Leo asked, baffled.

"Your hand's on fire!" Nico explained, visibly paling at the sight of burning flesh.

Leo looked down at his right hand. Sure enough, his hand was bathed in fire.

"Oh." Leo simply said, much to everyone's (except his father's) surprise. He was just about to ask 'So?' when he realized unless he was a human cigarette lighter (which, as far as the others knew, he wasn't) this should hurt. Badly.

Mentally kicking himself for his stupid mistake, Leo quickly corrected himself.

"Oh!" Leo repeated with more surprise and, hopefully, pain. He drastically widened his eyes and waved his hand in effort to rid of the fire.

"Get it off! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!" Leo yelled, mind racing as he struggled to think of a way to get out of this mess.

Unlike like the others, Hephaestus, with a raised eyebrow, quietly watched his son's act. He knew the fire was not causing his son any pain, so why Leo was pretending afraid of the fire bewildered him.

As some people in the group screamed at Leo to get on the ground and roll around, Percy looked around for a source of water.

Spying Ophiotaurus' aquarium, he hurtled half of the freezing water in the fire's direction.

The force of the water sent Leo crashing onto the hard marble floor.

"Nice shot, son." Poseidon complemented. With a wave of the sea god's hand, the water evaporated and returned to the cow serpent's tank.

Unfortunately, this had little effect on Leo who was soaked from head to toe.

Spitting out the sea water that manged to slip into his mouth, Leo brushed stray wet hair out of his face.

"Thanks Percy, I needed a shower." Leo said with a smile. Despite being wet and cold, he couldn't bring himself to be mad at the older boy. He was just trying to do the right thing.

_Besides, now that those stupid books are gone, I've got nothing to worry about. _

Leo's smile grew at the thought.

The smile faded when he was examined by a pair of grey eyes.

"Where did that fire come from?" Athena asked hands on her hips.

Saying the first thing that came to mind, Leo replied.

"I don't know. I was looking for the bathroom and then I suddenly smelled-"

"Smelt." Athena automatically corrected.

"Smelt," Leo repeated. "smoke. When I went to go see where it was coming from, I found the books on fire."

Leo mentally nodded. His story sounded reasonable enough.

"Are you sure that's it?" asked skeptical Annabeth.

"Yes." Leo was proud of himself for not making the slightest flinch when staring directly in the girl's eyes.

He then stood up and wrung out his shirt.

As he looked down, his smile faded when he spotted the fortune cookie.

Picking it up he was almost afraid to open it, but the curiosity inside him made Leo do it.

Leo cracked the cookie open and read it to himself.

_Some things are just too predictable._

Leo's frown deepened as he wondered what that meant.

His question was, unfortunately, answered by Chris' astonished cry.

"The books are okay!"

"WHAT?" Leo exclaimed before he could stop himself. Looking over his shoulder, his jaw dropped at the sight of the still existing Lost Hero in Chris' hand.

The book resembled a lump of coal, but was otherwise still readable.

Leo cursed under his breath. The goddess must have the books fire resistant.

"How is that even possible?" Percy asked in disbelief.

Thalia took the book out of Chris' hand and suddenly frowned.

"A better question would be why does this book smell like gasoline." she threw a suspicious glance in Leo's direction.

"Are you sure you had nothing to do with this, Leo?"

Leo gave her a innocent look in return.

"Positive."

Thalia opened her mouth to comment but Hermes beat her to it.

"Look, accusing each other won't solve who tried to burn the books. The important thing is they failed and we still have a chance of saving the future."

"He's right, let's just read this and get it over with." Dionysus injected.

Leo chewed his lip, as much as he wanted to protest, he didn't want to draw any more negative attention then he already had. So he reluctantly remained silent.

Once everyone was seated, Thalia held out the book.

"Does anybody want to read?"

"Why don't you read, Thalia? You haven't read yet." Katie suggested.

"Maybe later Katie, but I'm not interested in reading Leo's thoughts." Thalia replied with a look of disgust.

_That makes two of us. _Leo thought.

"I'll read!" Connor volunteered with too much enthusiasm for Leo's liking.

Taking the book, Connor flipped the pages until he was on the right page.

Connor flashed nervous Leo a mischievous smile before he began to read.

"**Leo V**," Connor read out loud.

Leo played with the loose string on his coat, pretending he was anywhere but here.

"**Leo's Tour Was Going Great Until he learned about the dragon.**"

"You mean Peleus?"*** Annabeth asked with a raised eyebrow.

"What, are you afraid of dragons?" Clarisse said with a snort.

Looking up from the loose string, Leo smiled.

"No way! Dragons are the coolest."

Annabeth frowned when she realized Leo was completely ignoring her question.

"**The archer dude, Will Solace, ****seemed pretty cool.**

Will smiled at that.

**Everything he showed Leo was so amazing, it should have been illegal.**

"Mostly everything that's amazing is illegal." Travis explained to Leo.

"Yeah," Connor added. "Like taking things that aren't yours."

Leo gave his string a firm tug, snapping it off his coat.

**Real Greek warships moored at the beach that sometimes had practice fights with flaming arrows and explosives? Sweet! Arts & Crafts sessions where you could make sculptures with chain saws and blowtorches? Leo was like, _Sign me up_! The woods were stocked with dangerous monsters, and no one should ever go in there alone? Nice!**

Some people laughed, while others stared at Leo with mild concern.

_So far, so good. _Leo thought, tying knots on his string.

Percy grinned.

"Are you sure he doesn't remind you of anybody?" Percy asked Nico, who managed to squeeze himself in between him and Annabeth (much to the couple's annoyance).

"I'm sure, Percy." Nico deadpanned.

**And the camp was overflowing with fine-looking girls. Leo didn't quite understand the whole related-to-the-gods business, but he hoped that didn't mean he was cousins with all these ladies. That would suck.**

"Behold, the typical thoughts of a boy." Phoebe muttered to another huntress.

Said huntress snorted.

**At very least, he wanted to check out those underwater girls in the lake again. They were definitely worth drowning for. **

Artemis and a couple of her hunters rolled their eyes, while Connor gave Leo a approving nod.

**Will showed him the cabins, the dining pavilion, and the sword area.**

**"Do I get a sword?" Leo asked.**

Hephaestus looked a bit scared about that idea.

**Will glanced at him like he found the idea disturbing.**

Thalia also looked disturbed at the thought of the hyperactive teen with a sword.

"How about you just stick with your breath mints?" Katie cautiously suggested.

Leo huffed.

"I could use a sword if I wanted to."

**"You'll probably make your own, seeing as how you're in Cabin Nine."**

**"Yeah, what's up with that? Vulcan?"**

**"Usually, we don't call the gods by their Roman names," Will said. "The original names are Greek. Your dad is Hephaestus."**

**"Festus?" Leo had heard somebody say that before, but he was still dismayed. "Sounds like the god of cowboys."**

Surprisingly, Hephaestus laughed at this along with the others. ****

"Did you seriously just reference Festus Haggen from Gunsmoke?" Thalia, trying to hide her smile, asked. *****

Leo smiled sheepishly and shrugged.

**"He-phaestus," Will corrected. "God of blacksmiths and fire."**

**Leo had heard that too, but he was trying not to think about it. The god of fire...seriously? Considering what had happened to his mom, that seemed like a sick joke. **

Leo looked up at the ceiling, purposely avoiding the surprised looks from the readers.

Connor blinked slowly in shock, definitely not expecting that to come out of Leo's thoughts.

"Did you read that correctly?" Will asked, although he knew Connor could the Ancient Greek as good as any other demigod.

"I did." Connor confirmed,looking at Leo with concern.

Looking away from the ceiling and noticed people still looking at him, Leo immediately tried to wave off like it was no big deal.

"Hey, it's just a negative thought. So what? I'm a human being (well... half human being). I sometimes think negative, it's just normal teenage angst. Nothing special."

**"So the flaming hammer over my head," Leo said. "Good thing or bad thing?"**

"Well," Percy began, stretching his arm behind Nico's back. "You got claimed. That's always a good thing, considering demigods would almost never get claimed before."

Percy grabbed Annabeth's hand and gave it a firm squeeze.

Smiling Annabeth squeezed back, while Nico looked both surprised and happy to have the son of Poseidon's arm around him.

**"You were claimed almost immediately. That's usually good."**

**"But that Rainbow Pony dude, Butch-he mentioned a curse."**

Hephaestus frowned at the reminder.

**"Ah...look, it's nothing. Since Cabin Nine's last head counselor died-"**

Percy sadly frowned at that.

**"Died? Like, painfully?"**

"How else can a demigod die, Leo?" Percy said sarcastically.

Leo, rubbing his hands against each other, shrugged.

**"I ought to let your bunkmates tell you about it."**

**"Yeah, where are my home dawgs?**

"Home dawgs?" Hestia repeated slowly, as if testing out a foreign language. Is that what the 'funky fresh' kids say now a days?

**Shouldn't their counselor be giving me the VIP tour?"**

**"He, um, can't. You'll see why." Will forged ahead before Leo could ask anything else.**

**"Curses and death," Leo said to himself. "This just gets better and better."**

**He was halfway across the green when he spotted his old babysitter.**

"What?" Annabeth asked in surprise.

"Why would your babysitter be there?" Chris asked confused.

Drew, with a snort, rolled her eyes.

"It's obvious the Mist affected his mind like it did to Piper's when she saw Peleus."

**And she was not the kind of person he expected to see at a demigod camp.**

**Leo froze in his tracks.**

**"What's wrong?" Will asked.**

**Tia Callida- Auntie Callida. That's what she'd called herself, but Leo hadn't seen her since he was five years old. She was just standing there, in the shadow of a big white cabin at the end of the green, watching him.**

"Creepy." Travis said with a shudder.

**She wore her black linen widow's dress, with a black shawl pulled over her hair. Her face hadn't changed-leathery skin, piercing dark eyes. Her withered hands were like claws. She looked ancient, but no different than Leo remembered.**

**"That old lady..." Leo said. "What's she doing here?"**

**Will tried to follow his gaze. "What old lady?"**

**"Dude, the old lady. The one in black. How many old ladies do you see over there?"**

**Will frowned. **

"Maybe it is the Mist." Annabeth said, still unsure.

**"I think you've had a long day, Leo. The Mist could still be playing tricks on your mind. How about we head straight to your cabin now?"**

**Leo wanted to protest, but when he looked back toward the big white cabin, Tia Callida was gone. He was sure she'd been there, almost as if thinking about his mom had summoned Callida back from the past.**

**And that wasn't good, because Tia Callida had tried to kill him.**

"WHAT!" Hephaestus exclaimed, startling a number of people, including Clovis.

"Coming, Mother!" the half asleep boy cried out before falling back to sleep.

Everyone ignored him.

Leo waved it off.

"Yeah she tried to kill me, but who cares? Demigods nearly die all the time. No big deal."

"She sounds like a monster." Thalia stated, looking at Leo for confirmation.

Smiling, Leo, glancing at Hera, shrugged. "She could be, that would explain a lot if she was."

"She sounds more like a Kindly One." Annabeth said.

"I think you might be the closest, Annabeth." Leo replied.

Stifling a laugh at the seething queen of gods, Leo began to twist and bend a copper wire he pulled out of his tool belt.

**"Just messing with you, man." Leo pulled some gears and levers from his pockets and started fiddling with them to calm his nerves. He couldn't have everybody at camp thinking he was crazy.**

"It's a little too late for that." Clarisse grunted.

**At least, not crazier than really was.**

Apollo, Hermes, and the Stoll brothers laughed at this.

**"Let's go see Cabin Nine," he said. "I'm in the mood for a good curse."**

**From the outside, the Hephaestus cabin looked like an oversize RV with shiny metal walls and metal-slatted windows. The entrance was like a bank vault door, circular and several feet thick. It opened with lots of brass gears turning and hydraulic pistons blowing smoke.**

**Leo whistled. "They got a steam punk theme going on, huh?"**

**Inside the cabin seemed deserted. Steel bunks were folded against the walls like high tech Murphy beds. Each had a digital control panel, blinking LED lights, glowing gems, and interlocking gears. Leo figured each camper had his own combination lock to release his bed, and there was probably an alcove behind it with storage, maybe some traps to keep out unwanted visitors.**

**At least that's the way Leo would've designed it. A fire pole came down from the second floor,**

"Wait a minute!" Connor paused, shooting Jake Mason a small glare. "You guys got a second floor?"

Jake shrugged. "Yeah, so?"

"_Soooo_," Connor empathized. "It never occurred to you that maybe you guys should build us one?"

"Yeah," Travis agreed. "Do you know how cramped it is in the Hermes cabin? If anybody deserves a second floor, it's us."

"Relax guys," Percy said, ignoring when Nico hesitantly leaned back against his arm. "As soon as the gods claim all their children like they _promised_,"

Percy stared meaningfully at the gods before continuing. "I'm sure everyone will have enough breathing space in the Hermes cabin."

"I hope so." Connor said before he continued reading.

**even though the cabin didn't appear to have a second floor from the outside.**

**A circular staircase led down into some kind of basement.**

**The walls were lined with every kind of power tool Leo could imagine, plus a huge assortment of knives, swords, and other implements of destruction. A large workbench overflowed with scrap metal-screws, bolts, washers, nails, rivets, and a million other machine parts. Leo had a strong urge to shovel them all into his coat pockets.**

Leo sighed. He missed Cabin Nine.

**Looking around, he could almost imagine he was back at his mom's machine shop. Not the weapons, maybe- but the tools, the pile of scrap, the smell of grease and metal and hot engines. She would've loved this place**

**He pushed that thought away. He didn't like painful memories. Keep moving- that was his motto. Don't dwell on things. Don't stay in one place too long. It was the only way to stay ahead of the sadness.**

Nico, glancing at Percy then at Annabeth, couldn't help but silently agree with that philosophy.

"You know you can't always run away from your problems. There's going to be a time when you have to face them." Annabeth told Leo, gripping her necklace.

Leo, bending the copper wire into a zig-zag line, just shrugged.

Nico snorted. Of course she would say that.

**He picked a long implement from the wall. "A weed whacker? What's the god of fire want with a weed whacker?"**

**A voice in the shadows said, "You'd be surprised." **

**At the back of the room, one of the bunk beds was occupied. A curtain of dark camouflage material retracted, and Leo could see the guy who'd been invisible a second before. It was hard to tell much about him because he was covered in a body cast. His head was wrapped in gauze except his face, which was puffy and bruised.**

Jake winced in sympathy of his sibling.

_Looks like one of their machines didn't work out as planned._

**He looked like the Philsbury Doughboy after a beat-down.**

Jake scowled at Leo.

"Not funny, Leo."

"Sorry, just being observant." Leo said, straightening his wire.

**"I'm Jake Mason," the guy said.**

Jake's eyes widened at that as he wondered what happened to himself. Sure he would have injuries here and there because of a machine gone wrong, but he never ended up in a body cast.

**"I'd shake your hand, but..."**

**"Yeah," Leo said. "Don't get up."**

**The guy cracked a smile, then winced like it hurt to move his face. Leo wondered what had happened to him, but he was afraid to ask.**

**"Welcome to Cabin Nine," Jake said. "Been almost a year since we had any new kids. I'm head counselor**

Jake grimaced. Apparently, his plan for convincing Nyssa to be head counselor would fail.

**for now."**

**"For now?" Leo asked.**

**Will Solace cleared his throat. "So where is everybody, Jake?"**

**"Down at the forges," Jake said wistfully. "They're working on... you know, that problem."**

Athena frowned at that, wanting to know what exactly the 'problem' is.

**"Oh." Will changed the subject. "So, you got a spare bed for Leo?"**

**Jake studied Leo, sizing him up. "You believe in curses, Leo? Or ghosts?"**

**I just saw my evil babysitter Tia Callida, Leo thought. She's _got _to be dead after all these years. And I can't go a day without remembering my mom in that machine shop fire. Don't talk to me about ghosts, doughboy.**

Leo slowly sighed as his hand brushed his hair back. The other hand released the copper wire in favor of tugging the buttons on his jacket.

He was beginning to understand how a dissected frog would feel: Uncomfortable with the whole situation. Helpless because there was little he could do at the moment to stop this. And finally, Anger at his own stupid helplessness and Nemesis for getting him into this mess.

_Why couldn't she let me burn the books?_

"Sorry, Leo." Jake said softly, bringing Leo out of his thoughts.

"For what?"

Jake shifted, looking as uncomfortable as Leo felt.

"You know, for bringing up ghosts..."

"Ah, it's alright." Leo said as casually as possible. "It didn't bug me."

"Looks like it did." Connor said.

"It didn't." Leo insisted, his hand now yanking his jacket's button. "I was just joking."

Judging by the doubtful expressions, he wasn't fooling anybody.

**But aloud, he said, "Ghosts? Pfft. Nah. I'm cool. A storm spirit chucked me down the Grand Canyon this morning, but you know, all in a day's work, right?"**

"See? I'm fine!"

Hephaestus' frown deepened when he was beginning to notice a pattern in Leo's behavior.

**Jake nodded. "That's good. Because I'll give you the best bed in the cabin- Beckendorf's."**

A couple gasps told Leo this was a big deal.

**"Whoa, Jake," Will said. "You sure?"**

**Jake called out: "Bunk 1-A, please."**

**The whole cabin rumbled. A circular section of the floor spiraled open like a camera lens, and a full-size bed popped up. The bronze frame had a built-in game station at the footboard, a stereo system in the headboard, a glass-door refrigerator mounted into the base, and a whole bunch of control pannels running down the side.**

**Leo jumped right in and lay back with his arms behind his head. "I can handle this."**

**"It retracts into a private room below," Jake said. **

**"Oh, heck, yes," Leo said. "See y'all. I'll be down in the Leo Cave**

Travis snickered at the name.

**Which button do I press?"**

**"Hold on," Will Solace protested. "You guys have private underground rooms?"**

**Jake probably would've smiled if it didn't hurt so much. "We got lots of secrets, Will. You Apollo guys can't have all the fun. Our campers have excavating the tunnel system under Cabin Nine for almost a century. We still haven't found the end. Anyway, Leo, if you don't mind sleeping in a dead man's bed, it's yours."**

**Suddenly Leo didn't feel like kicking back. He sat up, careful not to touch any of the buttons. "The counselor who died- this was his bed?"**

**"Yeah," Jake said. "Charles Beckendorf."**

**Leo imagined saw blades coming through the mattress, or maybe a grenade sewn inside the pillows.**

Jake, rolling his eyes, snorted.

"If those were in the bed, we would've taken it out."

**"He didn't, like, die in this bed, did he?"**

**"No," Jake said. "In the Titan War, last summer."**

**"The Titan War," Leo repeated, "which has nothing to with this very fine bed?"**

Clarisse slapped her forehead.

**"The Titans," Will said, like Leo was an idiot. "The big powerful guys that ruled the world before the gods. They tried to make a comeback last summer. Their leader, Kronos, built a new palace on top of Mount Tam in California. Their armies came to New York and almost destroyed Mount Olympus. A lot of demigods died trying to stop them."**

Everyone bowed their heads in memory of those who died in the war before continuing to read.

**"I'm guessing this wasn't on the news?" Leo said.**

"The Mist is strong," Poseidon said. "But not strong enough to prevent mortals from not noticing some things."

**It seemed like a fair question, but Will shook his head in disbelief. "You didn't hear about Mount St. Helens erupting, or the freak storms across the country, or that building collapsing in St. Louis?"**

"Have you been living under a rock?" Connor teased.

"I was busy." Leo said with a smile, pulling his hand away from his hair.

"Doing what?" Katie asked.

"You know, the usual." Leo replied, not answering her question. He picked up his copper wire and continued fiddling with it.

**Leo shrugged. Last summer, he'd been on the run from another foster home.**

Leo grimaced, tapping the wire against his lap.

_Nobody here needed to know that._

**Then a truancy officer caught him in New Mexico,**

"Where were you going?" Grover asked.

"I don't know." Leo replied, to be honest, he hadn't really cared where he was going.

**and the court sentenced him to the nearest correctional facility- the Wilderness School. "Guess I was busy."**

**"Doesn't matter," Jake said. "You were lucky to miss it. The thing is, Beckendorf was one of the first casualties, and ever since then-"**

**"Your cabin's been cursed," Leo guessed.**

"Is there any way to break the curse?" Percy asked, saying what was on most of everyone's mind, but he received.

**Jake didn't answer. Then again, the dude was in a body cast. That was an answer.**

Jake, avoiding pitying looks, winced at that.

**Leo started noticing little things that he hadn't seen before- an explosion mark on the wall, a stain on the floor that might've been oil... or blood. Broken swords and smashed machines kicked into corners of the room, maybe out of frustration. The place did feel unlucky.**

"I hope they find a way to break the curse soon." said a worried Hestia.

**Jake sighed halfheartedly. "Well, I should get some sleep. I hope you like it here, Leo. It used to be... really nice."**

**He closed his eyes, and his eyes, and the camouflage curtain drew itself across the bed.**

**"Come on, Leo," Will said. "I'll take you to the forges."**

**As they were leaving, Leo looked back at his new bed, and he could almost imagine a dead counselor sitting there- another ghost who wasn't going to leave Leo alone. **

"Finished." Connor said.

"If it makes you feel better," Nico told the son of Hephaestus. "I highly doubt Beckendorf would haunt you. Not only because he's a nice guy, but also because he is too busy enjoying his time in Elysium."

Leo wanted to ask the son of Hades how he knew, but figured he would rather not know.

"Thanks Nico." Leo simply said.

Nico nodded in response.

"I'm reading next." Travis said, taking the book.

* * *

***~ This is from a vase of Helene being persuaded by Aphrodite to elope with Paris. Nemesis is pointing over Tyche's (goddess of good fortune) shoulder at the scene, demanding the act to be punished. I got this from internet website theoi. com.**

****~ I think the temptation would be too great for any child of Hermes to resist. **

*****~ Peleus is the dragon guarding the Golden Fleece.  
**

******~ I think Hephaestus would laugh because it would remind him of something Leo's mom would say.**

*******~ I don't know which is worse, the fact that Mr. Riordan excepted a young audience to get this refrence or the fact that I got the reference without having to look it up and laughed like a idiot... **

**AN: Sorry about the sudden pause in updates, I keep getting writer's block. Plus, that scene with Demeter and Leo in the last chapter wasn't planned to happen but I kept it in there because I thought it was something Demeter would do. However it threw off my whole plan for this chapter.**

**Anyway, thank you to everybody who read, favorited, reviewed, and followed.**

**Anyone who has any questions, comments, or suggestions, feel free to put them in the reviews.**

**Have a good night! **


End file.
